For 15 days, Athletic Director Mike Holder searched for a new men’s basketball coach.
On Wednesday night, Holder found his man.
Oklahoma State confirmed that Travis Ford stepped down as coach at the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday to accept an offer to coach at OSU. The school will hold a press conference today at 2 p.m. to formally introduce Ford.
Ford agreed to a contract extension with UMass last week after declining the Providence job. OSU will pay $200,000 on Ford’s contract, UMass Athletic Director John McCutcheon said in a Wednesday press conference. OSU has not announced teh details of Ford’s deal.
Ford, 38, took UMass to the NIT championship game last month, where the Minutemen lost to Ohio State to end a 25-11 season.
OSU has been without a coach since Sean Sutton stepped down under pressure April 1.
Holder’s first choice to replace Sutton, Kansas coach Bill Self, turned down the Cowboys after winning the national championship.
IHolder found Ford, who is considered an up-and-comer in the coaching world.
Ford was a former point guard at Missouri, then transferred to Kentucky after his freshman year and played under Rick Pitino from 1991-94.
Ford started his coaching career at Campbellsville, where he went 67-31 from 1997-2000.
From there, Ford went to Eastern Kentucky, where he took over a struggling program and began with four losing seasons. His final year at Eastern Kentucky, the team had a breakthrough, going 22-9 for its first NCAA Tournament berth in 25 years and the only appearance of Ford’s coaching career.
Finally, Ford went to UMass to revive another program that had fallen on hard times. After going 13-15 his first year, Ford guided the school to back-to-back winning seasons. In three years with the Minutemen, Ford went 62-35.
Sutton left Oklahoma State after two straight years with losses in the first round of the NIT. He went 39-29, 13-19 Big 12, in two seasons.
Sutton followed his father, Eddie, who won 368 games and went the Final Four twice in 16 years as OSU’s coach. Feeling that his son was forced out prematurely, Eddie said in the Austin American Statesman that he is considering having his name stripped from the court of Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Sutton started his first season 15-1 and OSU was ranked as high as No. 9, but the team struggled down the stretch and finished 22-13.
This year, the Cowboys lost six straight Big 12 games, but the team upset the eventual national champion Jayhawks and ended 17-16.
Holder cited the lack of an appearance in the NCAA Tournament as the cause for Sutton’s dismissal.
Now, Holder turns to Ford, who has already turned around two programs, to bring OSU back into national prominence.
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The lack of an NCAA appearance was the reason for Sean’s dismissal, so they hire a guy who’s coming off back-to-back NIT appearances. Brilliant.
I don’t care what the article says or what was “cited.” Sutton was not let go because of lack of NCAA appearances. There’s much that we don’t know and likely will ever know about what went on behind the scenes. What’s done is done support OSU and our new HC!
-Go Pokes
Last I checked, the Jayhawks were the national champions, not the wildcats.
I say we go ahead and rip Sutton’s name off of the floor. If he is even considering it, and talking about it in public we should go ahead and do it.
Interesting that Ford went to MO his freshman year because the then coach at Kentucky was planning on using his son, Sean, at point guard.
Most importantly, we need to keep in mind that Mr. Ford’s resume also includes the Marlon Wayans masterpiece, “The Sixth Man.” He played the under-appreciated white guy, Danny O’Grady, with such precision. It was almost like he was portraying himself.
Our program is in trouble whether or not we got him or another no-name coach. OSU waited a little bit too long to start on this whole head coach search. The least we can do is give him a fair shot. Don’t bash the guy for going to the championship game in the NIT and losing … its farther than OSU went this year!
I do find it strange that fans mock the fact that Ford has not played in the NCAA tournament. The fact is he took his Eastern KY squad to the big dance and almost beat his alma mater being down by 17 and losing by 8 after he got it down to 5. And if those fans think beating Florida isn’t much they need to think again. He was able to recruit players in an area that is dominated by the Big East and Boston College and took them to the finals of the NIT. Where did OK State go in the NIT the last three years? So don’t knock it if you haven’t been there. This is a good hire. We are going to see some very exciting basketball next season.