Tony Cox joined UT Dallas as the Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach in August 2024. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist with more than 16 years of NCAA Division I and international Olympic experience.
Previously, Cox was a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the United States Air Force's 27th Special Operations Wing, where he coached combat and combat support airmen to maintain the mission-critical physical fitness necessary to operate in high-tempo mission environments.
Prior to coaching the 27th Special Operations Wing, he was an assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach at Long Island University where he trained wrestling, gymnastics, women's golf, women's soccer, men's lacrosse, men and women's tennis and was the Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach for football.
Before LIU, Cox was the Head Performance Coach for the Chinese Olympic National Women’s Canoe team and a Performance Coach for the Chinese National Women’s Rowing Team as both teams prepared for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Cox spent 10 years on the Strength & Conditioning staff at the University of Hawaii where he was the coach for the beach volleyball team and and assistant for women's volleyball. During his time with these two teams, beach volleyball won three consecutive Big West Conference championships with three NCAA National Championship tournament appearances with two third places finishes. Women's volleyball was perennially nationally ranked in the top 10, won multiple Big West titles and advanced to the NCAA Elite 8. Cox also assisted with the football, baseball, cross country, men's and women's golf and cheer teams.
Cox is a veteran of the United States Navy and the Army National Guard. A native of Mississippi, he attended Jackson State University where he majored in Music Education and participated in the marching band. He is a devout Christian and his hobbies include cooking and competitive shooting.
In the rare moments when he is not coaching and not doing something strength and conditioning related, Cox' activities include music, cooking and reading everything from fantasy, to nonfiction to military history, to science-fiction. Cox is also an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor and an amateur USPSA and IPSC competitive shooter.
