WVU Tech Athletics

Bruce Cox will be entering his 16^th year involved in collegiate cross-country/track & field, serving 15 years as a head coach, including the past 5 with the Golden Bears, where he brought Cross-Country back to life and founded the Track & Field Program! While he has retired as head coach, he will be staying on board as the Director of Operations for CC/T&F, to continue supporting the rapidly evolving program.

During those past 5 years there have been three teams rise to NAIA Top 25 rankings (‘18 Indoor T&F 15th/‘18 Outdoor T&F 20th/‘18 Cross-Country 22nd) as well as a dominant 2018 River States Conference Championship in Men’s Cross-Country, scoring a low 29 points to resoundingly win the 12 team title, resulting in an automatic trip to the NAIA Nationals.

Also during that time the Golden Bear Squads earned 11 NAIA All-American accolades (Nikki Aleshire; A.J. Gruttadauro x 2; Luke Jobson x 5; Dan Lynch; Doug Negrete; and Steven Smith), with 22 NAIA Individual National Championship Qualifiers in the distance events, immediately establishing a culture of success and a tradition of excellence for the reinvigorated program. 

Prior to joining WVU Tech in the fall of 2014, Cox had served seven years as the head coach of cross country and track & field at the University of Charleston. Having started the program from scratch, UC finished third or better in 12 of Coach Cox's 14 seasons at the helm in the 14-team West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). On four occasions, his teams were the highest placing WVIAC team at the NCAA DII East Region Cross Country Championships.

Collegiately, Cox ran both cross country and track at West Liberty State College, qualifying individually for six NAIA National Championships and was the 1976 WVIAC Trackman of the Year. Forty-three years later he still holds several WLSC School Records including the 800 & 1500 meter runs, and was recently inducted into the West Liberty University Athletic Hall of Fame!

A 1976 West Liberty graduate, Cox went on to earn his MS from Marshall University in 1977, while also serving as a graduate coaching assistant for both the men's cross country and track programs.

Bruce Cox resides in Belle, WV with his wife Faith, a WVU Tech alum; they have 3 daughters, Maeve, Erin & Emma, along with 4 grandchildren, Adrian, Thomas, Brooklyn & Coalson.