By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Travis Ford is no stranger to starting over and he has a knack for turning around struggling programs.
The former University of Kentucky guard has been hired to take over the program at Saint Louis University, less than two weeks after Oklahoma State parted ways with the Madisonville native who spent eight seasons in Stillwater.
Prior to his hiring at Saint Louis, Ford’s name had been linked to several openings, including Western Kentucky University, which named former Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury as successor to Ray Harper earlier this week.
Saint Louis ultimately settled on Ford, a safe choice considering his track record in the Atlantic 10, where he compiled a 62-35 record at Massachusetts before taking over for Sean Sutton, also a former Kentucky guard at Oklahoma State. In his 19 years as a head coach, Ford has compiled a 345-257 mark in his four coaching stops.
Ford began his coaching career at Campbellsville and went on to become the coach at Eastern Kentucky University, a program that had fallen on hard times under Scott Perry, who never recovered from a loss to Berea College in his debut as coach of the Colonels. A noted recruiter at the University of Michigan, Perry never got on track in his four seasons with the Colonels.
Following Perry’s dismissal, Eastern looked to Ford to help turn the program around. Ford’s success at Eastern wasn’t immediate and it took time and patience to turn the program around. He won just seven games in his first two years in Richmond but began to turn the corner with a 14-15 mark in his fourth season.
The Ford era at Eastern reached a peak in 2004-05 when the Colonels finished 22-9, the team’s first winning season in more than a decade. Eastern finished second in the Ohio Valley Conference during the regular season and won the league tournament for its first NCAA Tournament berth in 26 years.
Ironically, Ford’s last loss as coach at Eastern was a 72-64 setback to Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis in 2005.
Ford made two NIT appearances in three seasons at UMass before taking over at Oklahoma State, where he won 20 or more games five times in an eight-year span. He guided the Cowboys to five NCAA Tournament appearances during his tenure, but compiled a 30-34 record in his final two seasons, leading to his dismissal.
Prior to his arrival in Stillwater, the Cowboys faced off-court turmoil, but Ford provided stability the program was looking for at the time after the coach-in-waiting experiment with Sean Sutton, who followed his father Eddie Sutton, ultimately failed.
Ford is now back at ground level, where he will take over a Billikens program that hasn’t made an NCAA appearance in three years. Ousted coach Jim Crews won 20 or more games in his first two years, but compiled a 22-42 mark during the past two seasons.
Ford and Saint Louis are starting over, and based on past history, both parties will benefit from the union.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com