By Kaia Zimmerman
On Tuesday, June 22, Grand Rapids Community College named Joe Fox as the new men’s head basketball coach for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Fox has been an assistant coach for the Raiders since 2019 and has previously held assistant coach positions at Lansing Community College and Calvin University. Before that, he got his start at GRCC as an assistant coach.
“I have been fortunate to work in college basketball for nearly a decade as an assistant coach, but have always had a goal of being head coach,” Fox said. “To have that opportunity here in Grand Rapids at the school where I got my start in coaching means a great deal to me and to my family. GRCC has a strong athletic tradition, and I look forward to building that.”
Currently, Fox works as a career coach at Aquinas College, along with being the event manager for the annual Gus Macker basketball tournaments.
He graduated from Michigan State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in art in history and later earned his master’s degree in higher education at Grand Valley State University.
Interim Athletic Director, David Selmon, said he believes Fox is deserving of this role as he has stepped up in the previous seasons.
“I have watched him this last year and saw how involved he was and seeing how serious he was taking his assistant coaching role, and I think he can easily transition those skills over to the head coaching seat,” Selmon said. “He has done the majority of recruiting the last couple years, and I think he knows what we need to do to be successful here.”
Selmon mentioned he sees a lot of himself in Fox and is excited to see what he can accomplish as head coach.
“I think everyone deserves an opportunity,” Selmon said. “I became the head coach by being the assistant here as well, and I thought I saw a lot of myself in him, as far as a person wanting an opportunity, (that) will work for it.”
Fox is taking over for GRCC’s former head coach, Jeff Bauer, who spent two seasons with the Raiders, before deciding to step down to spend more time with his family.
During Bauer’s time with the Raiders, they went 21-24 with a trip to the National Junior College Athletic Association Region XII tournament both seasons.
“I am excited and grateful to be named the head coach of the program that gave me my start in the field,” Fox stated in a press release. “I would like to thank coach Jeff Bauer for bringing me back to GRCC two years ago and providing me the opportunity to coach at GRCC. We have a great group of returning Raiders, and a talented batch of newcomers for the 2021-22 team. I can’t wait to get to work with them.”
