Landon Fox is in his first year as the defensive coordinator at Western Illinois. His first full-time coaching job was alongside current WIU head coach Joe Davis. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
MACOMB – When Landon Fox landed a job 20 years coaching linebackers and special teams at Wayne State University in Detroit, he was ecstatic.
“I was a young guy. It took me four years to get my first full-time job,” he said.
While preparing for the 2005 season, Fox got to know a young quarterbacks coach named Joe Davis, who was still throwing the football as a part-time job.
“Joe was still playing then,” Fox said. “He wanted to learn and grow. He was professional. I always appreciated that.”
While coaching at Wayne State from 2003-2005, Davis was still playing quarterback for professional indoor teams in three different states. In 2005, he was with the Fayetteville (Ark.) Guard of the National Indoor Football League.
In January, the two were reunited when Davis hired Fox – the former head coach at FCS Valparaiso – as his new defensive coordinator.
“I stayed in contact with him throughout our careers and always made time to see him at the (American Football Coaches Association) convention or wherever.”
Before his five-year stint at Valpo, Fox spent 11 years running the defense at FCS Dayton, helping the Flyers win three Pioneer Football League titles and post an 86-38 record.
He joins a WIU program that saw an offensive revival in 2024 with Davis calling plays.
The defense, however, finished in the bottom 10 nationally in multiple categories.
“I’ve learned that the guys are willing,” Fox said after WIU’s spring scrimmage. “They want to learn. They want to be good. It’s just a matter of making sure they know how to do it.”
Davis was impressed by what he saw in the early stages of implementing a new defense.
“Our defense has come a long way,” he said. “I love the edge Coach Fox and the staff have brought to that side of the ball. You can see our defense trying to play a little more aggressive.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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