Rhode Island Basketball: Rams parting ways with Coach David Cox

Rhode Island Basketball has announced that head coach David Cox will not be returning to Kingston next season.

The David Cox era has officially come to an end. The news that Rhode Island Basketball will be parting ways with the four-year head coach came late Friday morning. The Rhody fans learned about the firing less than 24 hours after their heartbreaking loss in the second round of the Atlantic 10 conference tournament to the Richmond Spiders.

Although Rhode Island led by fourteen at the half, Richmond went 20-of-24 from the field in the second half.

Following the loss, Cox spoke with the media about his future with Rhode Island. “I’m here to be here. I’m proud of these guys. I think that we’ve got to regroup and we’ve got to refocus our efforts so we’re in the upper echelon next year,” he said.

The Rams finished with a 5-12 conference record this season which marks their worst finish in the Atlantic 10 since the 2013 season.

Prior to Rhode Island, he was a four-year letter-winning point guard for the William & Mary Tribe and an assistant coach at Pittsburgh, Georgetown, and Rutgers.

Cox was hired to Coach Hurley’s coaching staff in 2014. He played a big role in the program’s recruitment process utilizing his connections to the DMV (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) area. He was also a big contributor to the Rams’ success in the back-to-back NCAA tournament runs in 2017 and 2018.

Cox took over for Rhody in the spring of 2018 after Dan Hurley left the program for the UConn Huskies head coaching job. In his four seasons at the helm of this program, the Rams finished with a 64-55 overall record with no trips to the NCAA or NIT tournaments.

URI Athletic Director Thorr Bjorn will have a busy summer as the search begins now for the 21st head coach in Rhode Island Rams men’s basketball history.