Patrick Fox, who has been leading the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program since 2014, has been named to the Michigan High School Football Coach’s Association Hall of Fame, which honors and recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the game of football in the state of Michigan.
“Being inducted into the MHSFCA Hall of Fame is a great honor that reflects directly back to all the dedicated young people I’ve been able coach as well as to the tremendous coaches which whom I’ve shared my career so far,” said Fox, who has compiled a winning record for the Irish in his five seasons managing the program. “I am also very proud of the accomplishments of the young people that I have spent a lifetime coaching and hope they all know how much they have meant to me.”
Fox came to Notre Dame in the summer of 2014 with more than 30 years coaching experience from Milford High School in Highland, Mich., where he served as head coach from 2000 to 2007 and then from 2011 through the 2013 season. He began his head-coaching career in 1988 at Ortonville Brandon High School and then in 1989 as varsity coach at Berkley High School in Berkley, Mich., where his teams earned an OAA championship and a spot in the MHSAA round of eight.
Fox coached at Berkley until 1997 when he accepted a position as head coach with Ann Arbor Pioneer High School where he coached until 2000, earning a record of 16-11. In 2010, Fox served as offensive coordinator on the Northville High School varsity team.
Fox was the winningest head football coach at both Berkley and Milford high schools and in 1996 and 2002 earned regional coach-of-the-year honors from the MHSAA. He is a widely sought-after speaker on football nationwide and is a key contributor to both the Frank Glazier Mega Clinics and Championship Coaching Systems. He currently teaches social studies, health and physical education at Notre Dame.
Betty Wroubel, Notre Dame’s athletic director, said she was thrilled to receive word of Fox’s Hall of Fame nod.
“Coach Fox is a coaches’ coach,” she said. “While there is no doubt that he understands and can coach the game, it’s his relationships with his players that separates him from many. I see him greet almost every player in our program from grades 6-12 almost every day. He has a genuine concern for his players and was well ahead of the curve when it came to player safety rules.”
Wroubel added that Fox has been a stabilizing force in the school’s football program.
“While many schools have seen a decline in their football participation numbers, we have seen our numbers increase each year he’s been at the helm.”
The MHSFCA Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held March 9, 2019, at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West in Lansing, Mich.