COACHING & ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Mark Fox will begin his first season as Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach and Sports Information Director. Fox received his Bachelor’s Degree in Education from The University of Kansas in 1986. His first teaching and coaching job was at Newton High School, where he coached middle school football and tennis as well as high school basketball and baseball. During his four years there, both the basketball and baseball teams competed in state tournaments.
Fox then became an assistant men’s coach at Bethel College for one year before proceeding to Emporia State University to finish his Master’s Degree in Curriculum & Instruction. While he was a graduate assistant at Emporia State, ESU won their pre-season tournament and the mid-season tournament in Chico, Calif.
Upon completion of his Master’s program, Fox went to Jefferson West High School, where he was an assistant for one year before taking over as head coach for two years. During his tenure as head coach, the team experienced their first winning season in 13 years, their first back-to-back winning seasons in more than 20 years and the first state tournament appearance in school history, ending the year with an 18-6 record.
From there, Fox moved on to Halstead High School for three years as the head coach. During the 2000-01 season, HHS won their Rupp Tournament for the first time in 20 years and their first state championship in 49 years, ending the year 22-4. Fox was selected as Boys 3A Coach of the Year by the KBCA.
From 2001 to 2005, Fox served as an assistant for the men's program at Newman University where the Jets twice reached the NAIA National Tournament and were consistently ranked as one of the top 25 programs in the country. At Newman, Coach Fox helped in perimeter player development, coaching of defense, and scouting.
Most recently, Coach Fox spent 11 seasons as the Head Women’s Coach at Bethel College. The program twice tied the school record for number of wins in a season, produced nearly 30 NAIA Academic All-Americans along with being named as an NAIA Scholar Team in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2016, and developed three NAIA Honorable Mention All-Americans. The team was also selected as the KCAC Champions of Character team for 2016.
He has coached several players who have gone on to play collegiately and/or professionally, including Paul Shirley (JWHS/Iowa State/Phoenix Suns), Dennis Latimore (HHS/Notre Dame/European League), Josh Farmer (HHS/Newman), Ryan McKay (HHS/Colorado School of Mines) and Jordon Regehr (HHS/Bethel College).
Coach Fox is active in his church; has been a Board Member of the Newton Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth organization, while also coaching his sons baseball teams during the past 15 summers; and, has volunteered his time helping with set construction and strike for the Newton Community Theater, in which his two oldest sons and wife have been heavily involved.
FAMILY
Fox and his wife, Susan, live in Newton and have 3 sons: Jerod is a sophomore at Hastings College; Kenton is a junior at Newton H.S.; and, Brayden will be a 3rd grader at Newton Bible Christian School.
