06/15/2026
Coach Richard Cox was recently featured in a KCA spotlight. Enjoy!:
KCA Coach Spotlight
Richard Cox
Current School Coaching at: Pike Valley High School & Junior High
Previous Schools Coached at: None
Sports and Levels Currently Coaching: Head Coach for JH & HS Cross Country, Head JH Girls Basketball, and Assistant for HS and JH Track & Field
Other Sports Previously Coached: JH Football, JH Boys Basketball, HS Girls Basketball
What you like to do, when not Coaching: I enjoy time with my granddaughter and running every day; watching football, basketball, and track in person or on TV. I am a Nebraska Cornhusker fan, and a Royals and Chiefs fan as well!
Years Coaching ( # of years and dates): This is year #40 for me, all at Pike Valley. Coaching: Track-40 years, Basketball-35 years, Cross Country-27 years. August 1986 to the present
What College Degree(s):
BSE May 1986 from Emporia State
Master's in Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology (Positive Coaching focus) from Missouri in July 2016
Anything else you would like to share about yourself : All the sports I coach are just different ways to bring life lessons to student-athletes. I have been fortunate to be coached by great coaches in high school at Jackson Heights (Lyle Alley, Dave Henry, Jack Sheldon) and in college at ESU (Bill Tidwell, Mark Stanbrough, Dennis Weber). I student-coached with Bob Karr at Emporia High and helped coach the Emporia Track Club while in college. I have been fortunate to work with great student-athletes in a wonderful community. Pike Valley has been good to me. My hope is to continue by paying that forward. There are thousands of stories and all have been important to me. ‘Life is full of choices’ is something I frequently say, and I have enjoyed leading by the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm!”
