Richard Fox Position: Assistant Coach Season at SDSU: 13th Season

E-mail Rich Fox at Aztecvaulter@cox.net

Richard Fox enters his 13th season as an assistant coach at San Diego State. In 1998 when the NCAA implemented the pole vault for women, Fox became a member of the Aztec staff as a volunteer coach. Since then, Fox has brought SDSU to the forefront in collegiate pole-vaulting as one of the nation's premier programs.

Few programs can compare to the continued tradition of having multiple athletes provisionally qualifying for the NCAA championships. Fox is proud of the team concept he has built where the pole vaulters combine to outscore their competitors at the MWC championship meets. Teaching solid technique in the art of the pole vault along with building strength through gymnastics, the weight-room and conditioning are the Aztec's strong points. Fox has coached every athlete on the Top 10 indoor and outdoor list for SDSU.

Fox also completed his seventh fall season (1998, 2003-2008) as an assistant distance coach. During this time Fox has worked with four all-Mountain West Conference runners, including Sophia Hawker, Marie Nilsson and Lital Azulay, who earned first team all-MWC and all-district honors, and Christal Cuadra, who was named a second team all-MWC selection. Hawker also competed at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Fox's athletes have posted tremendous success over the past 12 years in the pole vault. SDSU pole vaulters have scored 58 all-conference performances, won eleven MWC titles, provisionally qualified for the NCAA 44 times and sent athletes eleven times to the national meet, with four earning All-America honors (Aimee Crabtree - 1999, Shayla Balentine - 2005, Erin Asay - 2006i, Stephanie Bagan - 2008i/2008). The Aztecs have also broken the indoor and outdoor school records 11 times each and have set both the MWC championship meet (five indoor records and four outdoor meet records) and overall conference records numerous times.

SDSU currently holds the MWC indoor and outdoor all time record, plus the indoor and outdoor MWC meet records. At the MWC championships, Fox's athletes have been awarded the Outstanding Female Performance of the MWC Meet three times (2004i - Asay, 2005i - Balentine, 2007i - Bagan).

On an elite and national level, Fox has coached his athletes competing at the USA National Track and Field Championships 14 times. Two Aztecs competed at the 2000 Olympic Trials, placing fifth and 12th. Two competed at the 2008 Olympic Trials (12th and 26th). In addition, three of his freshman athletes have qualified for the junior national meet. Balentine finished with the No. 1 vault mark for the 2005 outdoor season.

SDSU athletes post one of the strongest indoor and outdoor top 10 lists in America. During his tenure, Fox coached the fifth collegiate vaulter to reach the 13-foot barrier in collegiate history and the 14th, 16th and 26th collegiate vaulter to reach the 14-foot mark. At the time, Fox's vaulter Balentine held the ninth-best mark in the NCAA, while Bagan currently holds the No. 7 all-time NCAA mark. Additionally, Asay held the No. 11 all-time mark for indoors.

The SDSU pole vault team annually rates against the best in the nation. The SDSU vaulters are ranked as the second-best program in the nation for producing 14 footers and were the first team in the nation to produce three different 14 foot vaulters (Balentine, Asay, Bagan). In addition, the SDSU Aztec pole vault squad ranks as the third-best program for producing individual NCAA All-Americans.

Number of Mountain West Conference indoor and outdoor pole vault champions since the league's inception in 2000: SDSU - 11, Brigham Young - 4, New Mexico - 3, Utah - 1 and Air Force - 1. The Aztec pole vaulters also have recorded third-most top 10 all-time performance records among the nations great colleges for the most vaulters over 13 feet.

Prior to joining the Aztec staff, Fox coached the pole vault for one year at Torrey Pines High School, leading his student-athlete to the school record.

Fox lives in San Diego with his wife, Ginger, and their one-year old son, Garrett.

Fox was a four-year track and field team member and varsity letter winner at San Diego State from 1988-1992. He is a 1992 graduate of SDSU with a bachelor of science in finance and earned a postgraduate master's degree of criminal justice from Boston University.

Fox was a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for one year and has been with the San Diego Police Department as an officer since 1994. A former member of the SDPD SWAT Team, Fox now works as a field sergeant on patrol in downtown San Diego (Gas Lamp District).

Fox is a certified member as a USATF official and volunteers as a pole vault official at the CIF Championships each year. Fox completed an open 5K road run in 17:16 and continues to run for the police department Baker to Vegas relay team. He has also competed in the triathlon and decathlon at the Police & Fire Games.