CU Athletics
CU’s Basketball Court
Named in Honor of Coaches he basketball court at Concord University’s Carter Center has been named after the two men most synonymous with CU’s men’s basketball program: former coaches Steve Cox and Don Christie. A formal dedication for Christie/Cox Court was held before Concord’s Mountain East Conference opener against Notre Dame College on Saturday, Nov. 23. Over the last 35 seasons Concord has had just three men’s basketball coaches. Christie led CU to 171 wins from 1978-89 before handing the program over to Cox who proceeded to guide the Mountain Lions to 336 wins from 1990-2011. After Cox announced his retirement, Concord hired current head coach Kent McBride, who played under Cox from 2002-06. McBride has since carried on the success of his predecessors with back-to-back winning seasons in his first two years in charge of the program. 77 • Spring 2014
Christie, who passed away in April 2013, came to Concord in 1977. Along with coaching men’s basketball, he was assistant director of admissions and taught mathematics for 12 years. He concluded his professional career as Concord University’s director of athletics from 1989-1998. His accomplishments as a basketball coach include coaching two WVIAC tournament championship teams in 1979 and 1989. He coached six All-WVIAC players at Concord including Will Johnson, Tracy Poindexter, David Darnell, Julius Lockett, Todd Lusk and Ron Ward. He was inducted into the Concord University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003. Christie is considered to be one of the outstanding gentlemen of college athletics in WVIAC history. He is remembered as a kind and generous mentor, coach and friend by his former players, fellow coaches and students.
Cox led the Mountain Lions to three WVIAC Tournament championships (1991, 1995, 1997.) One of the most admired and respected coaches in the WVIAC, he set Concord records for career victories, single-season wins (28 in 1990-91) and single-season WVIAC winning percentage (.842 in 1991-92, when CU went 16-3 in the league and 22-6 overall.) He won 20 or more games in a season six times. Cox came to Concord before the 1978-79 season to be an assistant coach for Christie and was part of the Mountain Lions WVIAC championship seasons in 1979 and 1989. He became head coach in the 1989-90 season. He coached 17 1st Team AllWVIAC players, five All-East Region players (Tyrone Anderson, Brian Atkins, Kelly Mann, Lewis Muse and Sterling Tate) and two 1st Team All-Americans (Muse and Ward.)