Fox on the run: Chris Fox has built a winner at SU, but now he finally has a team all his own
Chris Fox has come a long way.
In 2005, he took over a Big East doormat of an SU cross country team. Today, his squad stands as one of the most feared in the country.
And today, he’s mentioning his name in the same breath as Jim Boeheim.
‘This year we’re getting into homes and getting phone calls with the best kids in the country,’ Fox said. ‘Especially after winning Big East last year, we’re more welcomed in everybody’s home, and I think people invite us in like we’re what we are — a Top 10 program. It’s probably like Coach Boeheim’s experience. He can get in anywhere.’
Under Fox’s reign, SU produced its first All-American in 27 years last season in Tito Medrano, who Fox recruited in his second season on the job. When Fox was recruiting Medrano, it wasn’t always as easy as it is now.
Recruiting is a big reason why the team has become the force that Medrano spoke of. Fox now has a roster full of runners who have all been recruited by him. The recent success of the program has made the recruiting process easier. And the recruiting has made the squad into the powerhouse it is now.
‘Coach recruited us with the idea that we were going to become great,’ Medrano said. ‘He told us that from day one, we weren’t just here to compete and become good. We’re here to make something happen and to start a program that was going to stay around for a long time. We’re a force to be reckoned with.’
One of the first runners Fox signed was Steve Murdock. Being one of two seniors on the team, Murdock has seen the drastic change that has occurred in the program since Fox arrived on campus.
‘My first year, we weren’t ranked or anything, and people kind of poked fun at the program a little bit,’ Murdock said. ‘It was a dead program going nowhere, and Coach Fox came along and started making things change. People don’t party all the time anymore like we used to. Everything is really serious and fun at the same time.’
As the partying decreased and the seriousness increased, the success of the program also started to increase. And the accolades started to pour in.
Medrano was named an All-American. Coming into this season, the team was ranked preseason No. 1 in the Northeast region, an accomplishment that had never been bestowed upon the program.
After winning last season’s Wisconsin Adidas Invitational and the Northeast Regional to go along with a Big East championship, the team and Fox had a game plan of success for this season. Using the Colgate Invitational as a warm-up for some of their younger runners, the program still took home a first-place finish.
With another Big East title being one of the team’s main goals for this season, Fox and his runners have even higher hopes this season, as they are eyeing a Top 10 finish at the NCAA championships.
‘There’s certainly a team on the guy’s side that can win a trophy, which is the top four,’ Fox said. ‘Anything more than that would be huge. We have some great recruiting going on right now, and if we happen to get what we want, we may be a little bit closer to trying to win a national title.’
As the culture and thought process within the program is progressively changing for the better, outsiders like Villanova head coach Marcus O’Sullivan are starting to notice the turnaround in the program.
‘I’ve known Chris Fox for probably 30 years, and I knew that when he was going to take over the program that he was going to get things up and running,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘It was pretty evident a number of years ago that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the conference.’
With such high praise from his peers, Fox is taking everything in stride and keeping his team focused on the task at hand. Fox has completely changed the scene around the program. From the partying to the runners he brings in and recruits.
Four years in, it’s his program now.
‘It’s been a huge change, and you’ve got to give him credit,’ O’Sullivan said. ‘He works hard and is a good coach, and it shows because he’s getting it going.’
