Football
- Title:
- Tight Ends
- Phone:
- 205-348-3600
Joe Cox was hired in February of 2022 by Alabama head coach Nick Saban to coach tight ends for the Crimson Tide.
Cox arrives in Tuscaloosa after one season coaching tight ends for his hometown Charlotte 49ers.
He inherits a tight end room led by redshirt senior Cam Latu, who is coming off the best year of his career where he finished third on the team in receiving with 410 yards on 26 catches and second in touchdowns with eight. Robbie Ouzts also returns to bolster the unit after a solid freshman year.
Cox spent the 2020 season coaching wide receivers on Will Muschamp's staff at South Carolina. USC's receivers were led by Shi Smith who hauled in 57 receptions for 644 yards and a team-high four touchdowns in only nine games.
Prior to his time in Columbia, S.C., Cox spent five years at Colorado State on the staff beginning as a graduate assistant in 2015 and then coaching tight ends for three seasons (2016-18) and wide receivers in his final year in Fort Collins in 2019.
Cox helped propel a Rams' offense that turned in some of the most productive seasons in school history. CSU has posted two of the top five scoring seasons in school history (3rd—35.3 in 2016 and 5th—33.4 in 2017) and two of the top four marks for total offense with Cox on the staff, including a school-record 492.5 yards per game in 2017 (4th, 462.5 in 2016).
In 2019, the Rams ranked 14th in the nation in passing offense, averaging 305.3 yards per game through the air. Receiver Warren Jackson averaged 111.9 receiving yards per game, fourth in the country, on 77 receptions with eight touchdowns in 10 games. True freshman wideout Dante Wright added 57 catches for 805 yards and four scores.
In 2018, with Cox guiding a talented group of tight ends, the Rams ranked 13th in FBS in passing offense (304.9), registered the fourth-highest mark in school history for passing touchdowns with 26. The tight end group played a significant role in the performance of the Rams' record-setting offense in 2017 as Dalton Fackrell tied for second on the team with six touchdown receptions. Freshman Cameron Butler burst onto the scene and added 12 receptions for 171 yards and three touchdowns.
In 2016 the Rams' tight end corps was instrumental in helping the Rams to rank fourth in FBS in red-zone scoring (94.6 pct.), as well as 12th in passing efficiency, 28th in scoring offense (35.3) and 30th in total offense (462.5). The unit also contributed to the Rams' stellar pass protection, which resulted in a No. 8 national ranking for fewest sacks allowed (1.0), including just one total in the final six games of the season.
Cox was part of the coaching staff at Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte, N.C., from 2013-14, helping the school win back-to-back state championships. He joined the Mallard Creek staff in 2013 as quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2014.
As Georgia's starting quarterback in 2009, Cox completed 185-of-331 pass attempts for 2,584 yards and 24 touchdowns, at the time the second-best single-season total in UGA history. An offensive captain, Cox led the Bulldogs to a record of 8-5, and was named Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week for his five-touchdown, 375-yard performance at Arkansas. For his career, Cox completed 56 percent of his passes for 3,016 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Cox was the 2004 state of North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year and AP Prep Player of the Year, and a Parade Magazine All-American at Independence (N.C.) High School. He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Georgia (2009).
Cox and his wife, Erica, were married in March 2016 and have one daughter, Avery, and twin boys, Jace and Tate.
