Jeremy Cox and Wade Mason Chosen Among Southland's Top Five Assistant Coaches
8/6/2020 1:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- SFA men's basketball assistant coaches Jeremy Cox and Wade Mason were recognized as two of the Southland Conference's Top Five Assistants by Jeff Goodman, a national basketball analyst and insider for Watchstadium.com. Cox and Mason were ranked first and fifth, respectively, owing to their reputation and body of work under head coach Kyle Keller. To put together his rankings, Goodman polled 20 coaches (primarily assistants) from around the conference and asked them to identify the top assistants in their league.
Following Coach Cox in the second spot was Brette Tanner of ACU, followed by Chris Mudge (SHSU) in third and Jody Bailey (UNO) in fourth. Excerpts for each coach from the article are as follows:
Jeremy Cox, Stephen F. Austin | The Colorado native graduated from Colorado Mesa University in 1991. He started his coaching career as a grad assistant at Wyoming (1991-92) and has moved around quite a bit since then. He's been an assistant at Paris (1992-93) and UTSA (1993-97), a head coach at North Dakota State College of Science (1997-98) and Garden City College (1998-2002), an assistant at Arkansas-Fort Smith (2002-03), a head coach at Fort Smith (2003-06), an assistant at Texas A&M (2006-07), Kentucky (2007-09), South Florida (2009-11), Nebraska (2011-12), Texas Tech (2012-13), a head coach at Southern Idaho (2013-14) and an assistant at Southern Miss (2014-16). Cox has been with Kyle Keller at Stephen F. Austin since 2016.
"Jeremy is super experienced and anticipates problems and solves them. He's a former head coach and a Power Five assistant who has won multiple championships. Extremely passionate leader of men, detailed fundamental teacher of the game, energy giver and very good evaluator." – Stephen F. Austin coach Kyle Keller
"Jeremy has been around a long time and has great relationships on all levels, but especially in junior college where he recruits really good players. He also still has a great motor and will outwork a lot of people. Great teacher, plus has held that team together behind the scenes. Ultimate grinder, his travels have proven to make him invaluable in the Southland, has helped create incredible culture and been part of the most successful program in the Southland." – Southland assistant
Wade Mason, Stephen F. Austin | The New Orleans native played at Tyler Junior College and Tulane. He was a grad assistant at Oklahoma in 2011-12, was an assistant coach at Oral Roberts from 2012-16 and joined Kyle Keller's staff at SFA in 2016.
"Cancer survivor, family man and a great dad. Wade is a role model to our players, he has a fantastic knowledge of the game — both at individual skill workouts and detailed scout reports. He's enthusiastic every day, engaging our guys to want to become better. He really wants them to achieve their goals for life. He's a focused recruiter and talent evaluator." – Stephen F. Austin coach Kyle Keller
"Wade has been through a lot, but the bottom line is that he's a rising star. He knows everything and everyone. He's a terrific recruiter with an eye for talent, but he connects with kids and people. That's something that separates him." – Southland assistant
