Chris Beard had work to do this offseason and he’s started checking boxes.
Ole Miss has hired Austin Cox as director of basketball operations, with Ben Garrett at OMSpirit the first to report the news Friday.
It’s a necessary move after Clay Smith left for Texas A&M, Wes Flanigan departed for Georgia Tech and Bob Donewald Jr. took a job at South Carolina.
That was three assistants gone in a matter of weeks once the season ended in Nashville.
Cox steps in with a track record of landing in programs and helping them win.
The director of basketball operations role doesn’t come with a whistle or a recruiting calendar but it’s the heartbeat of any well-run program and Cox has kept that heartbeat steady everywhere he’s been.
“To be not only recognized for the work that I’ve accomplished but to be able to celebrate this moment with so many that have invested so much in me in my short career was very humbling,” Cox said.
Most Recent Stop: Bradley
Just before landing in Oxford, Cox helped Bradley put together a 21-win regular season, a second-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference and a 2026 NIT appearance, all in his first year with the Braves.
Walking into a new program and producing those results immediately isn’t something that happens by accident.
Before Bradley, Cox spent three seasons as chief of staff at UTEP.
The Miners won 18 or more games in two of those three years and reached the runner-up spot in the 2024 Conference USA Championship game.
Three years in El Paso proved Cox could sustain success — not just manufacture it in one good season.
Wind the clock back one more stop and you’ll find Cox at Stephen F. Austin, where the Lumberjacks went 22-0 in the regular season and shared the 2022 WAC Regular Season Championship in his only year with the program.
One season, one title share.
“I wasn’t a product of the student-athlete experience, as they like to say, but a beneficiary,” Cox said. “It’s always been a passion of mine to give back to coaches and athletes and felt the best avenue was a career in sports and living in that passion.”
Hudl Chapter and Mississippi Roots
Cox’s path back to college basketball ran through the private sector first.
He worked at Hudl as an enterprise account executive, negotiating six-figure partnerships with athletic departments nationwide.
Front Office Sports recognized him for that work, specifically highlighting his ability to build lasting relationships, which is essential in college athletics.
“My dad gave me the platform to be able to experience and be exposed to a lot of great opportunities,” Cox said. “He is probably my biggest mentor and friend.”
Before any of it, Cox was a Southern Miss graduate who started as a student assistant in Hattiesburg, worked his way up to chief of staff at USM and made a brief stop at Texas Tech under Tubby Smith before the private sector came calling.
It’s a full-circle moment.
A Mississippi kid who got his start in Hattiesburg is now headed to Oxford and Beard’s staff is starting to take shape.
