Former Houghton College basketball and volleyball standout and Hall of Honor inductee Judy Fox was named interim head coach for the Highlander volleyball program in June 2022.
Fox, a 1989 Houghton graduate and 12th head coach in the history of the program, will lead the team during the fall 2022 season while continuing her full-time work in sports ministry with
Ignite International, an organization she founded in 2003 to provide domestic and international playing and missions opportunities for collegiate sports teams.
"It is truly an honor to step into a pivotal time for a program, institution, and community that are so foundationally part of the impact I've been afforded across the world. It is all about relationship," said Fox. "For that I eagerly embrace this meaningful moment and look forward to leading the volleyball program through this season fearlessly and with excellence for the glory of God."
Fox played both basketball and volleyball as a Highlander, earning NCCAA All-District and NCCAA Division I All-America honors following her senior volleyball campaign.
After graduation she served four years at Houghton as an assistant coach for both programs. She went on to coach volleyball at the high school, club and collegiate levels, including two seasons at the helm at Indiana Wesleyan University and four seasons as an assistant at NCAA Division I University of North Texas.
Fox started Ignite in 2003 and stepped away from full-time coaching in 2005. She has led mission trips to Nicaragua, the Holy Land, Cuba, Liberia, Mexico, Ukraine, Lithuania, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Jamaica, Russia, Germany and within the USA. As part of this work, Fox took the first female soccer team to Liberia and the first U.S. collegiate volleyball team to Nicaragua. She serves as a consultant to the Nicaragua Volleyball Foundation and the Nicaragua National Volleyball Team.
Fox has remained active in the life of Houghton athletics since her coaching and playing days. She served as a member of the Highlander Athletics Advisory Board for 10 years, including two years as board chair, and has personally led Houghton's volleyball and basketball teams on seven total trips to Nicaragua since 2005. She was inducted into the Highlander Hall of Honor in 2019. [ Read her
Hall of Honor citation ]
Fox is also a 2016 inductee to the East Stroudsburg Area Senior High School Meritorious Hall of Fame and a 2019 inductee to the NCCAA Hall of Fame. She continues to lead teams internationally through Ignite, speaks at conferences, team events, banquets and colleges and universities across the nation, and has served as chaplain of the NCCAA Volleyball National Championships since 2009.
