The Fort Lewis College Department of Athletics will welcome back an all-time great, announcing Monday the hiring of FLC Hall of Famer Johnny Cox as the Skyhawks’ next head football coach heading into the 2022 season.
A 28-year coaching veteran, Cox is a 1994 graduate and two-time All American at FLC. He returns to Durango as the program’s 16th head football coach after spending eight seasons at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke; an NCAA Division II program competing in the Mountain East Conference.
“There is truly no place like home! It’s an honor to be selected as the Head Coach at Fort Lewis College,” Cox said. “FLC is a special place that had a positive impact on my life. I look forward to inspiring our student-athletes to be better future husbands, fathers, employees and employers.”
Inducted into the FLC Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999, Cox was a four-year star for FLC at the wide receiver position from 1990-93. Cox earned first team All-America honors in 1992 and 1993 while being named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference player of the year for the 1993 season.
Cox still owns FLC school records in receiving yards (3,611) and receiving touchdowns (33), while his 220 career catches are the second most in program history. His dominance on the field made him a two-time finalist for the Harlan Hill Trophy, which is awarded to the best player in NCAA Division II football.
“I am ecstatic to announce that Johnny Cox is coming back home to Durango as our new head coach, and we want to welcome his wife, Deb, and their daughters Reisa, Olivia, Evelyn and Kinley to the Skyhawk family,” said FLC Director of Athletics Brandon Leimbach. “Johnny is arguably one of the best Skyhawks to ever put on a football helmet, and he is the perfect fit to move our program forward. As good of a player as he was, he is an even better human being and coach.”
Cox continued his playing career in 1994-95, being invited to training camp with the Green Bay Packers in 1994 and playing one season with the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League in 1995.
It was during that time when Cox also got his coaching career off the ground as he served as the defensive backs coach at FLC in 1994. After earning his master’s degree and serving as a graduate assistant at the University of Texas from 1997-99, Cox returned to FLC to serve as the offensive coordinator in 1999 and interim head coach in 2000.
After a four-year stint as an assistant coach at North Dakota State, Cox served four seasons (2000-03) as head coach at Rex Putnam High School in Milwaukie, Oregon, before making his return to the college ranks as special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Holy Cross for the 2007 season.
Cox made his NFL coaching debut as a part of former Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin’s staff (quality control) with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2008 season. He also spent time as both the wide receivers and offensive quality control coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars under defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s staff from 2009-11.
After a two-year stop at North Carolina A&T as the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, Cox began his time at UNC Pembroke in 2014 as the offensive coordinator and, most recently, as the Braves’ associate head coach.
“I am so impressed with his motivation to recruit relentlessly and develop his student-athletes both on and off the field,” Leimbach said. “I have no doubt he will implement a strong culture in which the program will operate with the highest level of integrity and professionalism.”
The Braves made tremendous strides during Cox’s tenure, going from a 2-8 overall record in 2014 to posting a record of 10-2 overall in 2016. UNCP set school records in wins, were ranked as high as No. 12 in the country, and won the program’s first-ever playoff game that season en route to reaching the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Cox will look to duplicate a similar turnaround with his alma mater as he takes over a Skyhawks squad that struggled in 2021, finishing 0-11 overall and 0-9 in the RMAC.
“We are already in the process of creating a foundation for sustained success,” Cox said. “We are going to field a team that the FLC community, the college, the administration and the alumni can be excited about.”
