KRISTIE FOX CHOSEN TO LEAD UNLV SOFTBALL PROGRAM
Former All-American, national champion and UT Arlington head coach to join Rebel Athletics as head softball coach
Kristie Fox, one of softball’s top young coaching talents, will be the new head softball coach at UNLV, Director of Athletics Desiree Reed-Francois announced Thursday.
Fox, who has accumulated experience at the highest levels of softball as both a player and a coach, comes to Las Vegas after spending five years as head coach at UT Arlington.
“It was evident in our research and through my conversations with Kristie that she would be a top candidate for this position,” Reed-Francois said. “She is a rising star in the coaching ranks who made an immediate impact when she took over the program at UT Arlington. Kristie is a competitor who cares passionately about developing her student-athletes as championship softball players and preparing them for life after athletics.
“With her head-coaching experience, building a program, her ties to the region and having competed at the highest levels herself – winning national championships at Arizona – we are confident that she will help lead Rebel softball to national prominence. We are proud to welcome Kristie, her husband Andy and their family to UNLV.
At UT Arlington, Fox led the Mavericks to five consecutive conference tournament appearances and an increase in the team’s win total in each of the last three seasons. Becoming one of the nation’s youngest head coaches in 2012, she inherited a UT Arlington team that had won just 15 games during the previous season, failing to qualify for league tournament, but led it to 25 victories and a conference tournament berth in her first year. She was also instrumental in the school’s recent $3 million renovation of the program’s facility.
A native of San Diego, Fox was a two-time All-American during her collegiate career at Arizona. She reached the pinnacle of the college game as she led the Wildcats to back-to-back NCAA Championships during her junior and senior years (2006 and 2007). As a senior, she set a Women’s College World Series record with 11 hits, helping the school to its eighth national crown in softball.
“I would like to thank Desiree Reed-Francois and President Jessup for the honor and opportunity to lead the UNLV softball program,” Fox said. “Desiree has a great vision and in a short amount of time has shown tremendous leadership for UNLV and I am excited to be a part of that. Everyone I have met at the school demonstrated great passion and ambition and it is the type of environment I know our student-athletes will thrive in. I am looking forward to meeting the student-athletes and getting to work in creating a culture of excellence, passion and commitment in all we do.”
At the age of 26 she accepted her first head-coaching job (UT Arlington). In her five seasons there, she led the Mavericks to 134 wins. This past season, the team made its first conference tournament semifinal appearance, and won 32 games, marking the program’s highest win total since 2011. The team also made its first postseason appearance since 2003, competing in the National Invitational Softball Championship.
Under Fox, UT Arlington had seven all-conference selections and two NFCA All-Region team members, marking just the third and fourth all-region selections in program history.
Prior to her time at UT Arlington, Fox was an assistant coach at Big 12-member Texas Tech, where she was recognized as one of the top assistants in the country. With the Red Raiders, Fox helped the team to the NCAA Regionals three straight years, marking a first for the program.
She began her coaching career at her alma mater, serving as the undergraduate assistant for the Wildcats in 2008, while she completed her degree in psychology. She then spent a year as assistant coach at Murray State before moving on to Texas Tech prior to the 2010 season.
Fox also boasts national team experience, both as a player and as a coach. A former member of the USA Elite Team, she earned a gold medal in the College World Games in Taiwan with Team USA in 2006. Over the past three years she has served as an assistant coach for the USA Junior Women’s National Team, which will compete at the WBSC Junior Women’s World Championship in Clearwater, Florida, July 24-30.
As a player, Fox finished her collegiate career (2004-07) with a .350 batting average, 260 hits and 230 RBI, while leading Arizona to a 203-43-1 record over her four years. Her All-American honors followed her sophomore and junior seasons in 2005 and 2006, respectively. After her senior season, she was chosen in the first round of the 2007 National Professional Fastpitch League Draft by the Chicago Bandits.
Fox has a younger sister, Kellie, who also played collegiate softball at Arizona, and a brother, Kory, who is a current member of the Cal Poly football team. Kristie and her husband Andy have one son, Andrew (1), and another child on the way.