Chris Fox Retires From College Coaching at Syracuse

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Chris Fox, the popular coach who led Syracuse to its first NCAA cross country title in 68 years when his Orangemen won the 2015 national title, is leaving the school after 13 years to pursue professional coaching opportunities. 

A Syracuse release Thursday morning detailed Fox's achievements. He turned Syracuse into a national distance running power. 

With the graduation of star Justyn Knight, one of those new professional opportunities might be that Fox continues to coach Knight, who is Canadian.

Associate head coach Brien Bell will take over as the interim coach at Syracuse while a national search takes place.

Here is the full text of the Syracuse release:

SYRACUSE’S CHRIS FOX RETIRING FROM COLLEGIATE COACHING

After more than a decade of success at the helm of the Syracuse cross country and track and field programs, Head Coach Chris Fox is retiring from collegiate coaching to pursue opportunities in the professional ranks.

“Chris has established Syracuse cross country and track and field as one of the pre-eminent programs in the nation, including winning ACC and NCAA Championships,” said Director of Athletics John Wildhack. “We are grateful for his commitment to all the student-athletes he has coached at Syracuse. We wish him and his family all the best as he enters professional coaching and we will build on the great tradition that Chris created.”

Since arriving on campus in 2005, Fox, and associate head coach Brien Bell and the Orange staff transformed the Orange from a cross country program that hadn’t qualified for the NCAA Championships since 1957 into National Champions in 2015, led multiple individual NCAA Champions, coached nine conference championship teams and saw dozens of athletes earn All-America accolades.

“My time at Syracuse has been tremendous. I am not sure I can ever express my thanks to the administration for this opportunity at Syracuse,” Fox said. “The young people I was fortunate enough to coach were the very best; however, I have an opportunity in the professional ranks that I could not refuse. I thank everyone involved with Syracuse athletics for what was accomplished.”

After reaching the top of the sport, Fox led the Orange to sustained success in both cross country and track. Building one of the strongest overall programs in America, the men’s team has finished in the top-seven of the USTFCCCA Program of the Year standings in each of the last-three seasons and ‘Cuse was one-of-five programs to have both its men’s and women’s teams represented in the standings for 2017-18.

Highlighted by the NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championship in 2015 and mentoring Justyn Knight to a pair of NCAA Individual Championships this season, Syracuse has proven to be a destination program under Fox. He’s been recognized for his success as well, earning USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year in 2015 and earning conference coach of the year honors every season since 2012.

In addition to the success nationally, ‘Cuse has dominated the east coast and ACC since joining the conference in 2013. The Syracuse men have won eight conference titles in the last-nine seasons in cross country and have never lost to a conference opponent – regular season or postseason – in cross country since becoming a member institution. The Orange also boast three of the last four ACC individual champions in men’s cross country between Knight and Martin Hehir, while Paige Stoner became the first women’s champion in 2017. 

The Orange men also won the 2016 ACC Indoor Track and Field Championship – the first conference title on the track for the program – and finished second at the 2018 ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

With the help of his talented staff of Bell and Dave Hegland by his side since the beginning and adding Adam Smith in 2012, the track program has seen a record number of qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, numerous podium finishers and a pair of NCAA Champions (Jarret Eaton and Justyn Knight).

In total, Fox has seen student-athletes earn 15 All-America honors in cross country and 52 garner All-America accolades on the track. They’ve accomplished this feat while maintaining a stellar track record of success academically as well. The USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year in 2015, ‘Cuse has seen numerous athletes earn academic accolades under Fox, including 10 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. 

Bell, who’s been a key component in building the Orange into a national powerhouse, has been named interim head coach. Bell has been a respected distance coach for nearly two decades and has been alongside Fox every step of the way in building the Orange into the program it is today. Hegland, who’s been in charge of the sprints, hurdles and jumps for the last 14 years, coaching 12 different NCAA qualifiers, will continue to coach that area of the program. 

A national search will begin immediately for Fox’s successor.

– SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS –