Joe Cox, a former starting quarterback at Georgia, enters his first season at LSU after spending two years on Lane Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss. Cox serves as LSU’s co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach, the same role he had on Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss.
In two years at Ole Miss, Cox was part of an offensive staff that helped produce record-setting numbers each season. In 2025, the Rebels – behind the SEC’s top-rated offense, enjoyed the best season in school history, going 13-2 and reaching the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs.
Ole Miss led the SEC in total yards (7,354), yards per game (489.7), passing yards (4,700), passing yards per game (313.3) and total touchdowns (65). Ole Miss topped the 400-yard mark in total offense 13 times in 2025 and went over 500-yards five times.
Cox’s tight ends combined to catch 66 passes for 924 yards and nine TDs with Dae’Quan Wright leading the way with 39 receptions for 635 yards and five scores. Wright earned second-team All-SEC honors and later signed a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.
In 2024, Cox was part of a staff that orchestrated a record-setting offense at the time as the Rebels accumulated program marks for total offense (6,845), yards per play (7.3), passing yards (4,561) and passing yards per game (350.8). The passing yards and passing yards per game remain a school record.
Ole Miss tight ends, led by Wright and Caden Prieskorn, tallied 803 receiving yards and seven touchdowns on 55 catches.
Cox, a Georgia letterwinner and former quarterback for the Bulldogs, joined Ole Miss after two seasons on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama.
In 2023, Cox’s tight ends unit was led by Amari Niblack, who tallied 20 receptions for 327 yards and four touchdowns. In his first year, he helped redshirt senior Cameron Latu reach new heights for the Alabama offense with a career-high 30 receptions for 377 yards and four touchdowns. The converted outside linebacker was selected with the No. 101 overall pick in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
Prior to his time in Tuscaloosa, Cox spent one season coaching tight ends for his hometown Charlotte 49ers.
Cox spent the 2020 season coaching wide receivers on Will Muschamp's staff at South Carolina. USC's receivers were led by Shi Smith who hauled in 57 receptions for 644 yards and a team-high four touchdowns in only nine games.
Before South Carolina, Cox spent five years at Colorado State on the staff, first as a graduate assistant in 2015 followed by three seasons (2016-18) coaching tight ends before moving to wide receivers in 2019.
Cox helped propel a Rams' offense that turned in two of the top five most productive seasons in school history as the Rams averaged 35.3 points in 2016 and 33.4 points the following year. The Rams tallied a school-record 492.5 total yards per game after posting the fourth-best mark in program history with 462.5 total yards per game in 2016.
In 2019, the Rams ranked No. 14 in the nation in passing offense, averaging 305.3 yards per game.
Receiver Warren Jackson averaged 111.9 receiving yards per game, fourth in the country, on 77 receptions with eight touchdowns in 10 games. True freshman wideout Dante Wright added 57 catches for 805 yards and four scores.
In 2018, with Cox guiding a talented group of tight ends, the Rams ranked 13th in FBS in passing offense (304.9), registered the fourth-highest mark in school history for passing touchdowns with 26.
The tight end group played a significant role in the performance of the Rams' record-setting offense in 2017 as Dalton Fackrell tied for second on the team with six touchdown receptions.
In 2016 the Rams' tight end corps was instrumental in helping the Rams to rank fourth in FBS in red-zone scoring (94.6 pct.), as well as 12th in passing efficiency, 28th in scoring offense (35.3) and 30th in total offense (462.5). The unit also contributed to the Rams' stellar pass protection, which resulted in a No. 8 national ranking for fewest sacks allowed (1.0), including just one total in the final six games of the season.
Cox was part of the coaching staff at Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte, N.C., from 2013-14, helping the school win back-to-back state championships. He joined the Mallard Creek staff in 2013 as quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2014.
Following a decorated prep career, Cox enrolled at Georgia where he earned the starting quarterback role for the Bulldogs in 2009. He completed 185-of-331 passes for 2,584 yards and 24 touchdowns, helping Georgia to an 8-5 mark and a win in the Independence Bowl. The 2,584 passing yards ranked No. 2 in school history at the time.
In a win over Arkansas in 2009, Cox earned Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week honors after passing for 375 yards and five touchdowns in the win over the Razorbacks. For his career, Cox threw for 3,016 yards and 29 touchdowns.
Cox was the 2004 state of North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year, the AP Prep Player of the Year, and earned Parade Magazine All-America honors as a senior at Independence (N.C.) High School.
Cox and his wife, Erica, and have one daughter, Avery, and twin boys, Jace and Tate. A native of Charlotte, N.C., Cox earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Georgia in 2009.
Joe Cox File
Year at LSU (in 2026-27): First
Birthdate: November 27, 1986
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.
College: Georgia (Psychology, 2009)
Wife: Erica
Children: Avery, Jace, Tate
Coaching Experience
2013-14 Mallard Creek (Charlotte, N.C.) High School (quarterbacks, 2013; offensive coordinator, 2014)
2015-19 Colorado State (graduate assistant, 2015; tight ends, 2016-18; wide receivers, 2019)
2020 South Carolina (wide receivers)
2021 Charlotte (tight ends)
2022-23 Alabama (tight ends)
2024-25 Ole Miss (co-offensive coordinator/tight ends)
2026 LSU (co-offensive coordinator/tight ends)