UNC's Mike Fox, winningest active Division I baseball coach, announces retirement

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- The winningest active coach in NCAA Division I baseball is calling it quits.

Mike Fox announced Friday that he would not be returning to Chapel Hill, ending his 22-year career with the Tar Heels and 37-year stint as a college baseball head coach.

Fox, who graduated from UNC in 1978, retires with 1,487 wins. That is good enough for seventh all time, 15th best in winning percentage.

His teams made it to the College World Series seven times, including the championship round in 2006 and 2007. Both times they fell just short of claiming the championship.

According to GoHeels.com, Fox has played in or coached in all 18 of UNC's College World Series victories.

"Serving as the head baseball coach at my alma mater for the past 22 seasons has been one of the greatest blessings of my professional life," Fox said in a letter posted on GoHeels.com. "I have been in love with the University of North Carolina since I was a young boy. To see my dream of becoming a Tar Heel student, player and coach is hard for me to even comprehend."

Succeeding Fox will be Scott Forbes, a longtime assistant under Fox.

Forbes' first stint with UNC was as an assistant from 1999-2002. He coached at Winthrop from 2002-05 before returning as the Tar Heel pitching coach in 2006 -- a position he held until 2016 when he became associate head coach.

Forbes coached some of the best pitchers in UNC history, including seven of the 10 winningest pitchers and the top five career strikeout leaders.

Forbes will be just the fifth head coach of the Tar Heel baseball program since 1931.