Alyssa Cox, the University of Winnipeg Wesmen’s new women’s basketball head coach. (@WESMENATHLETICS / TWITTER)
The University of Winnipeg Wesmen have promoted longtime assistant coach Alyssa Cox to lead the women’s basketball team.
Cox, a former student-athlete, becomes only the fifth head coach in the program’s 51-year history and replaces Tanya McKay, who stepped down earlier this spring.
“I’ve been lucky enough to experience the program in a couple of different ways: as a player playing for five years and then shifting into the coaching role, so you get to see a lot of different aspects of the program and the job,” Cox said in a statement on Tuesday.
“It’s going to be really exciting to be able to continue the history from what I’ve experienced and put my stamp on it as well and take it to the next level.”
Cox (nee Grant), 30, played five seasons for the Wesmen from 2009-10 to 2013-14 under McKay’s leadership on the court and the past six seasons on the bench as a lead assistant.
“She was an unbelievable mentor for me,” Cox said of the legendary former coach. “It was really great, especially over the last two years or so, being able to work with her more closely and see all the different things that go into coaching a program like this. You pick up some things from all the coaches that you have the pleasure to work with and I think I’ve picked up a lot from Tanya in terms of in-game intensity and really putting your whole heart into the program that you’re coaching.”
Cox graduated from Oak Park High School and has coached in the Basketball Manitoba provincial program since 2014. She is also leading the U18 Manitoba female team this summer at the Canada Summer Games in the Niagara Region of Ontario.
Wesmen Athletics is pleased to announce the hiring of Alyssa Cox as the fifth head coach in the history of the @Wesmen_WBB program.
? https://t.co/4Wyjl1vIi0 #WePlayForWinnipeg pic.twitter.com/C8MiQBVCNO
— Winnipeg Wesmen (@Wesmenathletics) May 24, 2022
