SILER CITY — Former UNC baseball coach and North Carolina Sports Hall of Famer Mike Fox spoke to Jordan-Matthews’ athletes, parents and coaches at the school’s fall sports banquet on Dec. 5.
Fox shared a mix of advice and stories from his coaching career and personal life, emphasizing the importance of character and helping others.
“I’ve kind of seen and heard it all,” Fox said. “I know the pitfalls that are out there, and I know the good things that can be out there for them. So, If I can just pass on anything to help maybe one kid just make the right decision when the time comes, do the right thing and just be a good person besides being a good athlete, then it was worth it for me.”
Fox doesn’t have many ties to Jordan-Matthews and its history, but one connection was enough to make it a full circle moment for him.
While as the head baseball coach and athletic director at North Carolina Wesleyan College, Fox offered Jordan-Matthews athletic director Barry West, a graduate of NC Wesleyan, his first head coaching opportunity with the school’s softball team in 1991. West spent just one season on the job, but it was a lasting connection that brought a realized meaning to West’s life. The connection also endured 33 years, including a loss of contact until West reached out with an opportunity for Fox.
“I had just completed my degree, I didn’t have a job, my wife and I were expecting our first child in a few months, and I’m thinking, ‘Dog, I can’t afford to do another volunteer job,’” West said. “It was that opportunity that I could imagine realizing that coaching was indeed my calling.”
Said Fox, “I remember having he and his wife over to my house 30 something years ago. I’m retired, and I don’t do a lot of speaking engagements, but I just couldn’t say no to Coach West, and I just feel thankful and blessed to be here and glad I was invited.”
Fox is set to be inducted in to the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Feb. 13 as part of the 17th induction class. After coaching for 15 seasons at NC Wesleyan, Fox became the head coach at his alma mater UNC prior to the 1999 season. He went 948-406-1 to become the winningest coach in UNC baseball history, won three ACC championships (2007, 2013 and 2018) and advanced to the College World Series seven times (2006-09, 2011 and 2013), reaching the championship round in 2006 and 2007.
“You don’t start out coaching for any of this and any kind of recognition like this,” Fox said. “Any coach will tell you that you’re just a byproduct of great players, and I was blessed to have so many of them not just at North Carolina but at NC Wesleyan. I wouldn’t even be in that situation if it wasn’t for those kids in Rocky Mount and at Wesleyan for 15 years.”
Fox led NC Wesleyan to 14 NCAA tournament appearances, including eight trips to the Division III College World Series and a 1989 national title victory.
But, if you read those accolades to him today, he’d say something along the lines of, “nobody really cares anymore.”
Fox shared that he now makes it an emphasis to help others with the troubles of life. During the speech, he talked about his 38-year-old son’s struggles with mental health during the 2006 World Series. Dealing with that circumstance behind the scenes while having to still show up for his team and the UNC fan base taught Fox to never judge people because of the unknown struggles someone might be going through. The situation also helped point him in the direction of helping others in his post-coaching life.
“Boy, I went through that journey through a mental illness, and then seeing people on the street begging for money, now it’s entirely different,” Fox said. “My world changed. So, I retired what some people say early, because I had other things I wanted to do in my life. I wanted to help those people and raise money because if there’s one in my life, there’s one in other people’s life.”
Said Fox, “There’s all sorts of opportunities that you can give your time. It doesn’t have to be much. Whether it’s moving furniture, setting up furniture for someone who’s been on the street, and they found a place to live, to working through the church, to raising money. Certainly, the hurricane victims in the western part of the state. I’m from Asheville. There’s opportunities everywhere you turn.”