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Mark Cox was a member of the McMurry football program during what was – in terms of wins and losses – the greatest four-year span in the history of the program.
Cox came to the McMurry campus from Weatherford High School in 1977.
From 1977 through 1980, McMurry football enjoyed four-consecutive winning seasons for the only time in school history! Under the guidance of Hall of Honor coach Spud Aldridge, the program amassed a record of 30-12 during those seasons.
And no season was bigger than the 1980 campaign - with Cox as quarterback - to lead the Indians to a 9-2 record, the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and a berth in the NAIA playoffs. The 9-2 mark still stands today as the best season in McMurry history in terms of both number of victories and best winning percentage in the modern era.
Not only was he a team captain for the Indians, but he twice earned TIAA Offensive Player of the Week recognition and was once the NAIA national Player of the Week.
The defining game of that year came in the regular season finale, which was a rematch versus rival Austin College. In that game, Cox threw for six touchdown passes and had 539 yards in total offense, both school and TIAA conference records at that time. McMurry scored a 47-39 win to claim its first TIAA crown.
The six touchdown passes was almost unheard of at that time. In fact, on that very same day, Boise State quarterback Neil Lomax – who would go on to play in the NFL for the then-St. Louis Cardinals – also threw six touchdowns, making Lomax and Cox the first two quarterbacks in NCAA history to have thrown for six touchdowns in a single game.
Cox graduated from McMurry in 1981 with his Bachelor’s degree in history. He would also go on to earn his Masters of Education degree from ACU in 1988.
Armed with some great examples of coaching from Spud Aldridge, Tommy Estes and Dwayne Finnley, Cox then began his own journey as a high school football coach.
Some of his own professional highlights include serving as a head coach for the Greenbelt Bowl all-star game in 1989 and serving on the 1994 selection committee for the Texas High School Coaches Association South All-Star game, to name a few. At South Garland, his 2012 team was a UIL state playoff qualifier and he was elected the District 11-5A “Coach of the Year”.
From 1988-90, Cox returned to his Alma Mater as the Indians’ head coach for three seasons, as well.
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