Georgia's Fox responds to New Mexico report

Mark Fox has no intention of heading back west.

A report from Albuquerque, New Mexico TV station KRQUE 13 News stated the New Mexico athletics department recently reached out to Fox. Through a team spokesman, Fox denied this and stated no desire to leave the Georgia program.

"No contact, no interest," Fox said.

While Fox won't be leaving the Bulldogs for the Lobos, going from a Power 5 program to New Mexico isn't unprecedented. Steve Alford left his head coaching gig at Iowa in 2007 for New Mexico, which would later propel him to the UCLA head coaching job.

New Mexico is now looking to replace head coach Craig Neal, the man who replaced Alford, after Neal was fired Friday. Neal spent four years coaching the Lobos. 

Fox does have ties to The Land of Enchantment as he played his final two seasons of college basketball at Eastern New Mexico from 1989-91. He also got his first head coaching job out west at Nevada, where he led the Wolf Pack from 2004-09.

With Georgia, Fox has compiled a 145-118 overall record in eight seasons. His 2016-17 team finished the year 19-15 and earned a second consecutive trip to the NIT, where it lost in the first round at home to Belmont.

While Georgia loses guard J.J. Frazier to graduation, the Bulldogs are expected to return nine of their top 10 players next season. Included in that number, however, is forward Yante Maten, who has yet to announce if he is declaring for the NBA draft.

In addition, Georgia is set to add top-50 recruit Rayshaun Hammonds to the mix, along with forward Nic Claxton and guard Teshaun Hightower.

This story was originally published April 4, 2017 at 12:04 PM with the headline "Georgia's Fox responds to New Mexico report."