Sporting Jax’s first men’s head coach, Liam Fox, speaks to reporters Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on November 4, 2025 at 5:08 pm
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When Sporting Jax kicks off its first USL Championship men’s soccer game next year, a veteran Scottish coach will lead the team.
Liam Fox was announced Tuesday as Sporting Jax’s first mens coach. He has about four months to get his newborn team ready for its first match in March at the University of North Florida’s Hodges Stadium.
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Fox joined Sporting Jax CEO Steve Livingstone and others from the professional men and women’s soccer teams at a news conference Tuesday.
Fox, the former head coach of Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian Football Club (Hearts) and Dundee United Football Club teams, said it was time for a new challenge. So he accepted a job more than 4,000 miles from home.
“I am probably at a point in my life and career where a new challenge, a new culture, a new environment is exactly what I was looking for,” Fox said. “It’s not very often that you get to build a club up and build a franchise up. This is a really, really unique opportunity.
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“It’s a fantastic part of the world, and I am surrounded by some first class and world class operators helping me. Put all these things together, I just thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t say no to.”
Sporting Jax search
Sporting Jax Head of Soccer Mark Warburton called Fox a coach who understands the modern game and the importance of developing a clear, positive identity on and off the field.
“It’s been a very, very detailed search in terms of finding the right person for this role,” Warburton said. “We wanted someone who obviously knows the game exceptionally well, but more importantly, understands the opportunity that is here at the club. That is key to us — someone who recognizes what the club is going to do going forward, the growth opportunity and the role they are going to play.”
Sporting Club Jacksonville was founded in 2020 with an ownership group including Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor.
The club, initially announced in August 2022, is now popularly known as Sporting Jax. Its women’s team competes in the USL Super League; its men’s side is expected to kick off in the USL Championship in 2026.
It unveiled its name and crest in late 2023. Its colors and motto — Lift Every Voice — came from more than a year of conversations with soccer enthusiasts throughout the region.
Fox’s experience
Along with the 151-year-old Hearts of Midlothian club in Edinburgh, Sporting Jax said Fox has held key coaching and development roles at the 80-year-old Livingston Football Club, which plays in Scotland’s West Lothian area. He has worked alongside several esteemed figures in Scottish soccer, including Craig Levein, Ange Postecoglou and Jack Ross, Sporting Jax officials said.
Speaking to Jacksonville Today, Fox said there are always challenges coming to a new team.
“That’s going to be absolutely no different here,” he said. “The opportunity to come and really build the club from the bottom up — Steve, Rick and Mark have already put so much work to get to this point — so the challenge for us all and especially for me is to put a team on the pitch that hopefully the community can get behind, that can excite the community. You can be nervous about these challenges, or you can look straight ahead and embrace it.”
Stacey Balaam, head coach of Sporting Jax women’s team, also welcomed Fox.
“This is a really exciting day and a big step, a positive direction for the club,” she said. “It’s only going to improve our fan base and just bring more excitement to the community, and we can’t wait to see them out on the field and the product they put out.”
Hodges Stadium will serve as the first home for the team. But plans are underway for a permanent stadium for the Sporting Jax women’s and men’s teams, with plans for a new club section and 100 premium field seats on the east sideline to brings fans as close to the action as possible, Livingstone said. New hospitality areas also will be built, and a prematch fan zone will entertain fans before kickoff.
Team officials said Fox’s appointment still requires visa approval, but the club expects him to join the team in Jacksonville in the coming weeks.
More information, plus tickets and season passes, are available now at www.sportingjax.com.
