David Fox
Head Coach
A former nationally ranked age-group swimmer, state-record holder, and qualifier for the NCAA Division III Championships, David Fox returned to his native Oklahoma following his graduation from Bates College, where he held school records in nine of the eighteen individual swimming events.
From 1993-1996, Fox coached SwimTulsa and the Trojan Aquatic Club and worked with 21 Junior National qualifiers, one Junior National Champion, six Senior National qualifiers, and one Olympic Trials qualifier. For the next eight years, he taught at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa and served as a student, teacher, coach, and administrator at Harvard University.
In 2004, Fox joined the English Department at Phillips Academy, and in 2006, he began assisting Coach Jacques Hugon '79 with the Boys' Varsity Swimming and Diving Team. During the next six years under Coach Hugon's leadership, the team held a 44-4 dual-meet record (44-1 in New England) and won three New England Championships.
In 2012, Fox was named Head Coach of the Boys' Varsity Swimming and Diving Team. During his twelve seasons as Head Coach--he took a sabbatical in 2015 and lost a season in 2021--Andover is 80-3 in dual meets (68-0 in New England) and has won the New England Championship each of the eleven times the team has attended the meet. In addition, during nine of the twelve seasons, Andover has been ranked among the top 25 high school programs--public and independent--in the United States.
In 2013, Andover attended its first Eastern Championships since the 1970s and placed fourth. In 2014, the team returned and placed fourth again. Following a two-year absence, Andover placed second at both the 2017 and 2018 Eastern Championships. 2019 brought a historic achievement: Andover won its first Eastern Championship; no other New England team had before won. The team repeated this feat in 2020. After a third-place finish in 2022, Andover won the Eastern Championship in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
During Fox's tenure as head coach, Andover swimmers and divers have broken 361 National, Eastern, class, pool, meet, school, and New England records.
In addition, Fox has guided 35 individual swimmers to 76 distinct All-American Awards, and Andover swimmers have gone faster than the All-American "consideration" standard 263 times.
Swimmers whom Fox has coached have gone on to compete for a range of college programs, among them: Amherst College, California Institute of Technology, Dartmouth University, Emory University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Texas A&M University, Tufts University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas, and Williams College.
In addition, Andrew Wilson '12 won a Gold Medal at the Tokyo Olympics in the 4x100 Medley Relay.
With the opening of the Pan Athletic Center and the Christopher Lynn '66 Pool, Fox was able to combine the "varsity" and "junior varsity" teams and serve as the head coach for all 35 swimmers who wish to compete for the boys' team.
In addition to coaching the team and teaching English--usually eleventh and twelfth graders with electives in philosophy and literature, critical theory, Don Quixote, The Wire, and Shakespeare, among others--Fox teaches Andover's year-long course in the history of art and visual culture, completed 17 years of living in a ninth-grade dormitory, and served as the Director of Studies. In 2017, the Trustees of Phillips Academy awarded Fox the Frederick W. Beinecke Teaching Foundation, an honor he retains permanently.
Fox holds degrees from Bates College and Harvard University.