Carlos Knox joined the Mean Green coaching staff in May of 2017 with 15 years of coaching experience in the collegiate and professional levels.
In his first season at UNT, Knox helped lead the Mean Green to its best season in over a decade featuring one of the nation’s top defenses that was ranked as the No. 3 scoring defense for most of the season. Knox coached Terriell Bradley into a first-team all-conference player as she increased her scoring average by five points per game in Knox’s first season. Bradley scored 578 points in 2017-18, the third-most points scored in a single season in school history.
Before joining North Texas, Knox served as director of training for Jonathan Byrd Fieldhouse, Indiana’s state-of-the-art basketball facility, and worked for seven seasons as an assistant coach with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. His responsibilities included scouting, player development, post-injury rehabilitation training, video editing, practice planning, and game preparation. As a member of the 2012 Indiana Fever WNBA Championship team coaching staff led by Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame coach Lin Dunn, Knox’s work with four-time Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings and five-time WNBA All-Star Katie Douglas played a vital role in the team’s long-term success and second trip to the WNBA Finals in 2015 under head coach Stephanie White.
Knox began his coaching career as an assistant with his alma mater, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI), under head coach Ron Hunter. There, he was instrumental in the recruitment and development of nine-year NBA veteran George Hill. In 2010 Knox joined the coaching staff at San Diego State University where he served as an assistant.
Professionally, Knox played briefly with the Indiana Pacers and spent eight years playing in Croatia, Germany, Venezuela, and Italy. As a head coach in Canada’s NBLC league, he earned honorable mention as Coach of the Month and produced six of the league’s 18 Player of the Week honors. He also served as a head coach in the International Basketball League, Continental Basketball Association, American Basketball Association, and International Basketball League.
Knox earned his degree in 1988 from IUPUI where he is lauded as the most prolific men’s basketball player in school history. A three-time All-American, two-time NCAA scoring champion, and NCAA Player of the Year, Knox set all of IUPUI’s major scoring records, including career points (2,556), single-season points (927), single-game points (51), single-season scoring average (32.0), and career scoring average (30.1). He remains in the top 10 for career assists (297) and free throw percentage (.833), and is the only player IUPUI history to hit more than 200 free throws in a single season, which he accomplished three times. His No. 34 jersey was retired after his final game, marking the first time in school history an athlete’s jersey had been retired.
Knox is credited as the impetus behind IUPUI’s reclassification of its men’s basketball program to Division I the year after his graduation. He was inducted into the IUPUI Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2016, Knox was recognized as IUPUI Men’s Basketball Legend as the first athlete to receive the honor.