Maryland Terrapins hire Tony Skinn and David Cox as assistant coaches

Newly hired Maryland Terrapins men’s basketball head coach Kevin Willard has moved quickly to fill out his staff roster as he has recently announced Tony Skinn and David Cox have been hired as assistant coaches. Both have deep ties to the Washington, D.C. metro-region as both natives and in their careers.

Tony Skinn

Tony Skinn, who grew up in nearby Takoma Park, Maryland after being born in Nigeria, spent the past season as an assistant coach with the Ohio State Buckeyes under Chris Holtmann. At OSU, Skinn was in charge of scouting personnel and worked closely with freshman guard Malaki Branham. Holtmann on multiple occasions told media he believes Skinn will be a head coach someday.

Prior to Ohio State, Skinn worked under Willard from 2018-2021 at Seton Hall where he focused on guards in his coaching duties. While he was in Newark, the Pirates won 55 games over a three-year span including the 2020 Big East Regular Season Championship, and worked closely with Quincy McKnight and Myles Powell.

After growing up just next door to Maryland’s campus, Skinn played college basketball at George Mason University on the Virginia side of the Washington, D.C. suburbs. He was a starter on the 2005-2006 team that advanced all the way to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament.

Skinn played professionally in Europe after his college career and got his start in his coaching career as an assistant with Team Takeover, a prominent D.C.-based AAU program. Those ties to the talent rich DMV area will likely come in handy for Long Island native Willard as he hopes to turn around a Terps program that some see as in decline of late.

Before his coaching stops with Seton Hall and Ohio State, Skinn served as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech from 2015 to 2018.

“Coming back home to work at Maryland, a school I grew up just miles away from, is a dream come true for me,” Skinn said in a statement provided by the school. “Coach Willard is going to build something very special at Maryland. I can’t wait to get out and recruit the best kids in the DMV and around the country and help them develop into stars for the Terps.”

David Cox

David Cox joins the Terps after spending the past four seasons as the head coach at Rhode Island before he was let go at the end of this season following losing records in the past two years, including a 15-16 mark and just 5-12 in conference play. Fatts Russell played under Cox at Rhode Island before he transferred to Maryland for his final season of college eligibility this past year.

The native of nearby Landover, Maryland, Cox has extensive experience in the DMV region over his life and career. He played college hoops at William & Mary in Virginia, graduating in 1995, and got his coaching career started in D.C. as an assistant at Archbishop Carroll High in the Brookland neighborhood from 1996-1999. Cox next worked at St. John’s College High in the Chevy Chase neighborhood in Northwest DC in an administrative role, overseeing the athletic department while working as assistant principal from 1999-2006. Cox also coached the AAU team D.C. Assault.

Cox got his college coaching career start on the staffs at Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Rutgers and Rhode Island before becoming the Rams’ head coach. He began his career at the college level as director of basketball operations with Pittsburgh for the 2006-2007 season before moving to an assistant coach role at Georgetown from 2007-2010.

Cox moved on from Georgetown to Rutgers as associate head coach from 2010-2014, taking on a brief interim head coach role for three games in December 2012 that saw Rutgers go 3-0. He moved on to Rhode Island where he worked as an assistant coach for four seasons before assuming the head coach job in 2018.

The Rams made two NCAA Championship appearances and one NIT appearance with Cox as an assistant coach, advancing to the second round all three times. Rhode Island also claimed the program’s first Atlantic 10 regular-season title in 2018 and its second conference tournament title in 2017.

“I went to games at Cole and Comcast Center and coached many future Terps over the years,” Cox said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of the staff with Kevin. This is a great fit and we can’t wait to get to work recruiting and developing the future stars of Maryland basketball.”

Willard still has one position on his coaching staff that needs filled, but he has moved quickly to make it clear recruiting the DMV region is a major focus in the early days of his tenure in College Park based on his first two hires for his staff.