This story first appeared on ncwsports.com.
The College Baseball Foundation announced eleven standouts who will be inducted as part of the 2024 class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday, and among them was former Wesleyan skipper Mike Fox.
The 17th induction class will be honored at the Night of Champions presented by Prairiefire on Feb. 13, 2025, in Overland Park, Kansas, the home of the College Baseball Hall of Fame. The event will serve as the ceremonial start to the 2025 college baseball season, which begins on Feb. 14, 2025.
By the time Mike Fox retired from college baseball in 2020, he had already secured his place among the most successful coaches in the game. Fox concluded his 37-year head coaching career with a 1,487-547-5 record, a winning percentage of .731. Fox spent 15 seasons as the head coach at N.C. Wesleyan in Rocky Mount, where he led the Battling Bishops to 14 NCAA Tournament appearances, eight trips to the Division III College World Series and the 1989 national championship. His teams posted 15 consecutive top-20 finishes and won 11 Dixie Conference championships. His record of 539-141-4 at Wesleyan ranked second in winning percentage (.791) among all active Division III head coaches.
Fox became the head coach at North Carolina, his alma mater, prior to the 1999 season. His Tar Heel teams went 948-406-1, won ACC championships in 2007, 2013 and 2018, and advanced to the College World Series seven times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2018). The 2006 and 2007 teams reached the championship round in Omaha. He is the winningest coach in Carolina Baseball history and led UNC to seven of its 11 CWS appearances. Carolina averaged almost 45 wins per season (prior to the Covid-19 shortened season of 2020) and posted five 50-win seasons under Fox, setting a school-record 59 wins in 2013. Major League Baseball teams drafted 105 of his Tar Heel players, including 15 first-round or supplemental round picks. Twenty-seven Tar Heels under his tutelage have played in the Major Leagues. He coached 37 first-team All-ACC selections and his players earned 32 All-America honors. Andrew Miller (2006) and Dustin Ackley (2009) won National Player of the Year honors. Three players – Ackley (2006), Colin Moran (2011) and Aaron Sabato (2019) – were named National Freshman of the Year. His players also won two ACC Player of the Year awards, four ACC Pitcher of the Year honors and six ACC Freshman of the Year awards. Baseball America’s 2008 National Coach of the Year, Fox was ACC Coach of the Year in 2018 and his peers selected him Atlantic Region Coach of the Year three times. The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame inducted him as a member in 2017.
About the College Baseball Hall of Fame
Each year, more than 190 representatives nationwide vote on the College Baseball Hall of Fame induction class. The voting body is comprised of national and regional college baseball media, active and retired coaches, former players, former inductees, college baseball historians and members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) collegiate baseball committee. The College Baseball Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 2006. Since that time, 165 players, coaches, umpires, administrators and contributors have been selected for induction. Click here for a full list of College Baseball Hall of Fame classes.
