New basketball coach has high expectations for Bulldogs

Mark Fox was introduced as Georgia’s men’s basketball coach Friday.

Fox agreed to six-year deal for $1.3 million a year.

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Brant Sanderlin/bsanderlin@ajc.com

Mark Fox has agreed to six-year deal for $1.3 million a year to coach Georgia.

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“We have a very bright future with this program,” Fox said.

Athletics director Damon Evans started the press conference by proclaiming, “I know this is going to be a great day when you look back on history of Georgia men’s basketball program.”

Evans went on to elaborate that Fox embodies everything he wanted in a coach:

“His commitment to the student-athlete. His commitment to academics.”

Turning to basketball, Fox said his teams will place an emphasis on defending and rebounding, while also trying to play as fast as they can on offense.

Fox said he won’t bring all of his assistants with him from Nevada, and that he will try to hire assistant coaches who are familiar with the area.

Fox said he met with the team Friday morning and discussed his expectations. He expressed how excited he is to get the players on the floor to see what they are capable of.

Fox showed some humor when asked about facing Florida’s Billy Donovan or Kentucky’s John Calipari.

“I think Billy’s a better player than me, but John, with his bad hip, I think I could take him.”

Some information on Fox:

• Fox had been coach of Nevada for the past five seasons, where he went 123-43, including 21-13 this past season. He never won fewer than 21 games there and went 29-5 in 2006-07.

• Nevada competes in the Western Athletic Conference, and Fox’s teams won the league four of his five seasons. They finished second to Utah State this past season.

• The Wolf Pack played in the NCAA Tournament three consecutive seasons but not the past two. They reached the second round in 2005 and 2007.

• Fox’s teams played Georgia’s twice, winning both times. Nevada beat the Bulldogs 58-47 in Athens on Nov. 26, 2004 and 68-62 on Dec. 21, 2005.

Georgia has had an opening for its men’s basketball job since Jan. 29 when Dennis Felton was fired in the middle of his sixth season. The Bulldogs were winless in the SEC at the time (0-5) and Felton left Georgia with an 84-91 overall record, 26-59 in the SEC. They managed to win three more games under the direction of interim coach Pete Herrmann to finish 12-20 overall and 3-13 in SEC play.

Fox graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in physical education from Eastern New Mexico in 1991 and obtained a master’s of science degree in athletic administration and sports psychology from the Kansas in 1996.

Fox and his wife, Cindy, have two children: a son, Parker (8), and a daughter, Olivia (6). Cindy is an associate athletics director at Nevada.