The longer Mike Fox is retired, the more his greatness grows.
Mike Fox was honored over the weekend with his No. 30 now gracing the façade and the pitching mound at Boshamer Stadium. He has been retired for three years, and since then the mediocrity has returned that defined the Diamond Heels pre-Fox.
It’s not just that he is Carolina’s all-time winningest baseball coach and took his program to seven College World Series between 2006 and 2018. He played on one of the only four other CWS teams in the 100-plus year history of the program.
Fox did it through recruiting and coaching, as a heavy percentage of the program’s 74 players who went on to the Major Leagues were from the Fox era. It is a shame the Diamond Heels never brought home the NCAA championship trophy, getting to the final series and finishing second their first two trips under Fox.
The first was a surprise, when Chad Flack homered to win the super regional over Alabama on the Tide’s home field. But then Carolina went back to Omaha for the next three seasons and three more times to become a fixture and known as a national power.
Fox was succeeded by current coach Scott Forbes, whose record includes one trip to the NCAA tournament as he tries to get UNC back to Omaha for the first time 2018. The longer that drought lasts, Fox’s legendary status will shine all the more.
The 1978 graduate of UNC won 1,487 games, including one Division III national championship in his 15 years at North Carolina Wesleyan in Rocky Mount before returning to his alma mater.
In 1999, Fox was a welcomed successor to the controversial Mike Roberts, who had 780 career wins and three straight ACC titles, but also had an abrasive attitude that rubbed players the wrong way and kept some national media away from Chapel Hill that could have helped him recruit more great players.
Fox was a breath of fresh air, and with him came the recruiting success that Carolina has in so many other sports because of the school’s reputation and beautiful campus. Who wouldn’t want to be a student-athlete here?
So, when the Diamond Heels swept Florida State over the weekend, it sure seemed like Fox karma was back at the Bosh.
Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter
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