Wyatt Cox keeps proving he’s a world-class team roper. Only 16 heelers were better than him in 2025, and only 15 won more than he did in 2026. Coming so close to that first NFR back number only to come up short—again—might break some. But not this bright-side cowboy.
“The initial feeling is crushing, but it just transitions into motivation,” said Cox, 31, who was raised in Arroyo Grande, California and these days calls Morgan Mill, Texas home. “I’ve been practicing to get ready for 2027. It’s time to focus on next year now.”
Cox has won some majors, including Rodeo Austin with Marcus Theriot in 2025 and the 2026 San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo with Lightning Aguilera. Wyatt’s 2025 partners were Theriot and Aguilera, then he roped with Aguilera and Brenten Hall in 2026. Cox’s 2026 NFR fate came down to the last day of this year’s regular season, September 30, at the Last Hoorah Team Roping at the 377 Arena in Stephenville, Texas. While some teams struck when it mattered most, Wyatt was not on one of them.
“That was hard,” he said from hunting camp in South Texas this morning. “Once word got out that that deal got approved, we all knew it was going to come down to the last day. By early September it was a tight race, and we knew it was going to come down to the wire and who had the best day on that very last day.
“I’m doing better now, but those first few weeks were very hard. It was hard to want to go rope and to enjoy roping. Every time I thought about it, it was hard to breathe. I’m a positive, happy person, but that’s the closest I’ve ever been to being depressed. A week ago, I was still down in the dumps. But it’s time to look forward and get excited again.”
With the news that Hall will head for his best friend, Jake Cooper Clay, this next year, Cox’s next partner is yet to be determined.
“I’m not sure who I’ll rope with next year just yet, but the veterans I’ve had in my corner for years say don’t worry about it,” Wyatt said. “They tell me to let the headers sort it out. They say there are a few curveballs coming, so just be patient and see how it goes.”
Are there any lessons learned the last couple of close-call years that he thinks might help him clear that last hurdle to his childhood dream of heeling at the Thomas & Mack?
“As a matter of fact, yes,” he said. “There was a moment between Moses Lake, Washington and Canby, Oregon in August—it’s slack to slack, it’s tight and you have to rope, run to the truck and get there just in time to rope at Canby—when I took some advice from Jake Long, who’s one of the veterans I talk to a lot.
“I’d been having trouble getting into a bad position and almost being too reserved with my positioning. I was roping to not lose instead of being more aggressive and roping to win. I’d been talking to Jake for a couple weeks about it after he called me out of the blue one day. I decided on my way to Canby to be more aggressive riding down the arena, and get back to roping to win. Jake’s helped me a lot, and that was great advice.”
There are some who couldn’t take the back-to-back near misses. Wyatt Cox is not one of them.
“I will figure out who I’m roping with, and I will find a way to win, no matter what,” he said, noting that his beautiful bride as of June 4, Teisha, wouldn’t let him throw his sucker in the dirt if he wanted to—go all-in or go home is her basic stance. “I don’t have a backup plan. We’ve burned the boats, and this is what we’re doing. You can Google ‘burn the boats’ if you don’t know what I’m talking about, but it goes all the way back to the conquistadores when they first came to America. The general said, ‘Burn the boats. The only way we’re going home is in their boats after we win.’
“This is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I want it more now than I ever have. I’ve gotten close. Now to find the way to push me over the edge and be a contender. It’s about the competition and finding a way to win for me. I’m a for-the-love-of-the-game guy.”