Saturday, July 05, 2008
As Travis Ford settles into his new job as Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach, he can’t help but look around and be reminded of home.
“It’s interesting: When people ask me about Stillwater, that’s the first comparison I make, that it’s very similar to the town I grew up in,” Ford said.
Oklahoma State athletics director Mike Holder introduced Ford as coach April 17 and since then Ford has been spending his time adjusting to the new environment and infusing his philosophy into the players he will be assuming control over.
“The first thing we do (as a program) is try to work extremely hard,” Ford said. “We do try to outwork people, there’s no question. It’s not an easy thing to do sometimes, but we have to develop a mind-set within our players that no one is going to work harder than we are.”
Ford has developed his own coaching principles from the many successful coaches he has played for and coached with during his career.
“I have been extremely fortunate and extremely lucky to have been surrounded by an incredible group of people who I’ve been able to learn from and try to take a little bit from everybody,” he said.
Growing up and playing basketball in Hopkins County, however, proved to be the foundation for Ford’s vision.
“My father taught me the game of basketball and I learned a lot from him, taken a lot from him,” he said. “Obviously, coach (Don) Parson, who I learned so much from at Madisonville-North — one of the most successful coaches I’ve ever played for — I use a lot of things that I learned from him.”
Ford’s understanding for the game continued to improve as he developed into a solid basketball player at the University of Missouri under Norm Stewart and more notably at the University of Kentucky with coach Rick Pitino.
While at UK Ford studied the systems Pitino used to lead the Wildcats to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances during Ford’s time with the team.
Since his playing days have ended, Ford has led turnarounds at three separate programs beginning with Campbellsville University. In 1999, he led the school to a 28-3 record and earned the honor of Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year.
The next year Ford accepted the head coaching position at Eastern Kentucky University. In his final season at EKU, Ford led the Colonels to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament where he lost a tight game to his alma mater in the first round.
In 2005 Ford took over at the University of Massachusetts and led the Minutemen to two NIT appearances. He finished with 62 wins in three seasons at UMass.
Now at Oklahoma State, Ford said he hopes to take the Cowboys to the next level.
“When you’re coaching in one of the BCS leagues, you always have that dream of winning a national championship,” Ford said. “I think we have the means to do that, the facility, the support, everything you need to recruit the best student athletes.”
Despite the continued success and opportunities at larger conferences he doesn’t have much time to reflect upon his accomplishments.
“No, I don’t really have time to do that,” Ford said. “It’s unbelievable how busy this profession is and I’ve probably taken it to an extreme because I’m a bit of a workaholic and I enjoy what I’m doing.”
With Ford’s hardworking principles running the show there is little reason to doubt the Cowboys will have a bright future.
While Ford may be swamped with recruiting and preparing for his first season at the helm at Oklahoma State, he still maintains close ties with friends in his hometown.
“There’s no question, I still have a lot of friends back in Madisonville, a lot of people I stay in touch with every day and it’s definitely home,” he said. “Madisonville is definitely home for me and I love getting back when I can.”
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