Colorado University Athletics
CU Athletic Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2014
- Head Basketball Coach, 1935-42, '45-50
- Three NCAAs, Two NITs
- Coached team to 1940 NIT title, 1942 NCAA Final Four
- 147-89 career record (.623)
The winningest men’s basketball coach in CU history in terms of percentage until recently (Tad Boyle), Forrest B. “Frosty” Cox coached the Buffaloes to a 147-89 record (.623) in 13 seasons in Boulder (1935-42, 1944-50) ... He led Colorado to three NCAA tournament appearances (1940, 1942, 1946) and to a pair of NIT berths (1938, 1940), the latter considered the more significant postseason tourney at the time ... His 1940 won the NIT championship in New York City, defeating DePaul and Duquesne at Madison Square Garden (in 1938, the Buffs defeated BYU but lost to Temple in the title game) ... In 1942, CU defeated Kansas, 46-44, in the NCAA quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four, one of two appearances by CU to this day; the Buffs lost to eventual champion Stanford, 46-35 ... Colorado was considered by many to have the top basketball program west of the Mississippi during the first half of Cox’s tenure ... His four teams that made the postseason are still tied for the most by any coach in CU history (just matched by Boyle in 2013-14) ... During Cox’s tenure, CU won four Mountain State Conference titles (1938, 1939, 1940, 1942) and the 14-game winning streak by his ’41-42 squad is still the longest in CU annals ... He coached CU’s first four All-Americans in basketball: Jack Harvey, Jim Willcoxon, Robert Doll and Leason “Pete” McCloud ... Five of his former players are in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame: Harvey, Byron White, Harry Simmons, Art Unger and Russell “Sox” Walseth; he was inducted in the 2014 class ... He also was an assistant football coach, tutoring the backfield, and thus coached White his All-American season in 1937 ... As a player at the University of Kansas, Cox was a first-team All-American and an All-Big 6 performer under the legendary Phog Allen ... He was named captain by his sophomore season and earned All-American honors as a senior in 1931, when he was awarded the Big Six honor medal (as CU’s coach, he owned a 7-4 record against his alma mater) ... A member of KU’s Athletic Hall of Fame ... He passed away on May 22, 1962 at the age of 54.
