FULTON, Mo.--- Former William Woods women's basketball player and Director of Athletics Amber Cox recently was hired by the Big East Conference to be its associate commissioner for women's basketball.

Cox duties with the Big East will include scheduling, officiating, television, branding and marketing. She will also oversee the annual conference tournament, which will be held for the first time in Chicago in March next spring.

Prior to her move to the Big East, Cox spent nine years with the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Phoenix Mercury, where she started out as the senior director of marketing and promotions, then becoming the chief operating officer in 2010 and president in 2011.

Cox had experience in the American Midwest Conference before taking the Mercury job and then the WWU Director of Athletics position in 2011, as she was an assistant director of athletics/media relations and development for Columbia College for four years. She also worked in the AMC for six years as the sports information director and commissioner, and also served a year as Region V sports information director.

While at WWU as a student-athlete, Cox earned her Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in 1996, with a major in communications and a minor in physical education.

On the court from 1992 through 1996, Cox compiled 1,283 points which places her 14^th on the school's all-time career point list, 368 field goals made which is fifth all-time and she was a three-time AMC All-Conference player and named NAIA Honorable Mention All-America during the 1994-95 season.

After her playing career, Cox stayed at William Woods, as she completed her Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in 1998, and during that time she was an assistant sports information director and assistant basketball coach.