Tony Cross Position: Head Coach Experience: 25th Season Alma Mater: Belmont, 1974

In his 23 seasons as the mentor of his alma mater, Tony Cross has guided the Belmont Women's Basketball team to unprecedented heights and continues to aim even higher.

He has developed quite a reputation as one of the premier coaches in the Atlantic Sun. It begins with his career record which currently stands at 497-211. Cross turned Belmont into a perennial power while in the NAIA and has successfully transitioned the squad to a consistent winner on the Division I level. Belmont has recorded 22 consecutive seasons with at least a record of .500 or better. During the 2001-02 and 2003-03 seasons, Belmont earned the distinction of being the only member of the Atlantic Sun to receive votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Bruins jumped out to an 11-2 mark in the 2001-02 season, and a 9-2 mark in the 2002-03 season and appeared in the poll on multiple occasions in each season.

In each of Belmont's six seasons in the Atlantic Sun, Cross has placed a Bruin on the All-Conference first team. Most notably, during the 2005-06 campaign, Alysha Clark became the first player in Atlantic Sun history to receive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors in the same season. The following season, Clark was named Player of the Year for a second time, becoming just the sixth player to win two Player of the Year awards and the fourth player to win the honor in consecutive seasons.

During the 2004-05 season, Brandi Miller became just the second Belmont player and seventh in the A-Sun to record 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. In addition, she finished ranked among the league leaders in steals, free-throws made and attempted while being named to the Academic All-Conference team. Miller followed Natalie Brown and Candice Mitchell as first team selections. Brown also garnered a second team selection as a junior while Mitchell was named A-Sun Female
Athlete of the year during her only season in the A-Sun. Breaking onto the national scene during the 2004-05 season was Jenny Conkle. She finished her junior campaign ranked as the number one three-point shooter in the NCAA, a first for a Belmont player since the program became Division I.

Academically Cross' teams have excelled as well. Since the 2000-01 season, the Belmont women's basketball team has consistently been among the top-15 of the Women's Basketball Coaches of America (WBCA) Top 25 Academic Honor Roll. The 2000-01 squad missed breaking into the top 10 by two-hundredths of a point. The Bruins have been ranked as high as fifth, receiving that honor at the end of its2002-03 season. The 2004-05 team was ranked ninth-best in the country, after
recording a collective grade point average of 3.392. Belmont was the only Atlantic Sun Conference team and the only university from the Southeastern part of the United States to receive the honor that year.

Cross began his coaching career at Norma Elementary School where he led the boys' and girls' basketball teams to a combined 72-18 record in three years. He then moved on to become girls' basketball coach at Lake City High School earning a record of 103-29 over four seasons. In Cross's final season at Lake City, he won East Tennessee Coach of the Year honors for directing the school to a 35-1 record and the number one ranking in Class AA. Cross once again moved on, this time to Anderson County High School leading their girls' team to an 18-14 record. Then, during the 1983-84 season, he served as a graduate assistant for the legendary Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee.

Coach Cross has made a name for himself not only for wins and losses but also for his great recruiting ability. He has been able to bring in young women with the talent to run his intricate system and dedication to school that has enhanced Belmont's reputation for developing the whole person. While Belmont was a member of the NAIA, Coach Cross was instrumental in the careers of three first-team NAIA All-Americans, Chrissie Herring, Aimee Smith, and Kelli Davis. Each took advantage of coach Cross' up-tempo style to put their mark on the program's career record book. In 2004, the Belmont women's basketball team recorded the nations 11th highest grade point average (GPA). The Bruins were ranked in the WBCA Academic Top 25 for four consecutive seasons. In addition, the squad placed the most members on the A-Sun All-Academic team for the fourth consecutive season.

Cross graduated from Belmont in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, while playing for the men's basketball team. He earned his master's degree in elementary education from Tennessee in 1984. In 1994, Cross was inducted into the Belmont Athletic Hall of Fame.

Coach Cross and his wife Lois reside in Brentwood, where she is an elementary school teacher. Their hobbies include traveling and playing with their cocker spaniel, Lacey.