Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s coach Matt Cox voted top Darling Downs senior sports coach of 2024

After weeks of nominating and voting, we can now reveal who you crowned as the Darling Downs’ best senior sports coach of 2024. See who won here.

Toowoomba Mountaineers coach Matt Cox. Picture: Kevin Farmer

After weeks of nominating and voting from the Darling Downs community, Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s coach Matt Cox has taken out the crown of the region’s top senior sports coach of 2024.

The basketball mentor was honoured to have received such strong support from the voters and to be recognised for the work he has put in.

“That’s pretty cool, it’s a testament to the community that’s building around basketball at the moment and I suppose it’s a reflection of people that are willing to invest their time to get better,” he said.

However, Cox claimed he is not alone in his work as coach and highlighted the important contributions of assistant coaches Monica Conway, Caitlin Savva and team managers Lyndrea Lynch and Anne Martin, who have helped him succeed as he revealed some of his biggest strengths as a mentor.

“I think I invest a lot of time, as a coach you’re always open to learning, you’re always trying to review and reflect on your processes and how you go about things,” he said.

“That’s something I am always willing to put the time into.

“I have really good people around me, I think that’s definitely another advantageous thing to being a semi-successful well respected coach is the people that you can put around yourself – it is never an individual thing you can do on your own.

“I think just trying to connect with people is a big thing too, if you try to build the team together and play for a purpose there’s always an element of some sort of success that will follow that.”

Cox shared some of his highlights from his coaching career, which began during the 2020 QSL basketball season.

“Just seeing different individuals succeeding, different teams succeeding, it is pretty special,” he said.

“Getting the women’s team into the playoffs over the last couple of years, I think that’s really been a big achievement.

“It has been so good to see a number of juniors come through the pathway but also a number of senior players come back to the program and give up their time and find a lot of success through that.

“In my senior coaching career those two things stick out instantly.”

With the Mountaineers women’s side in the midst of a decade long playoffs drought heading into the 2023 season, Cox was proud to have helped the team seal back-to-back playoff berths and is excited for the future of the program.

“I think that’s one thing why I got into the female side of things, I was in Brisbane for a couple of years and when I got back to town, people were saying that no one really did anything for the girls here,” he said.

Toowoomba Mountaineers coach Matt Cox during a break against Moreton Bay Suns in SQJBC U18 Women round 3 basketball at Toowoomba Grammar School, Sunday, October 20, 2024. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“So I just jumped across to that side of things and really tried to invest and give different people an opportunity and it feels really good.

“We have a really good community that is around the girls program at the moment.”

While Cox is proud of the growth in the women’s team, there is still an ultimate goal which has eluded him in his tenure as he dreams of leading the team to a QSL championship.

“It would be massive, that’s something on a personal note, I’ve never done in my coaching career is win one of those competitions,” he said.

“We’ve always been knocking on the door of semi-finals but haven’t been able to get over the big hump.

“That (a championship) would definitely mean a lot and I know it would mean a lot to the female program here in town.”

Originally published as Toowoomba Mountaineers women’s coach Matt Cox voted top Darling Downs senior sports coach of 2024