Dana Ford Signs with Missouri State

Editor: The following are portions of press releases from missouristatebears.com & TSUTigers.com.

(Springfield, MO) – Missouri State University will conduct a news conference on Thursday, March 22 at 9 a.m. to introduce Dana Ford as its new men’s basketball head coach.

Ford’s hire was unanimously approved by the Missouri State University Board of Governors Executive Committee late Wednesday afternoon after an extensive national search.

Ford, 33, has served the last four years as head coach at Tennessee State University. He is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most promising young head coaches and was awarded the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation’s top Division I minority coach.

He orchestrated one of the best turnarounds in NCAA history when he accepted the TSU job in 2014-15 as the nation’s youngest Division I head coach at the time. The Tigers went from a 5-26 record his first season to a 20-11 ledger a year later. He earned Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year honors and NABC District 19 Coach of the Year laurels that same season.

Over the last three years in Nashville, Ford has led the Tigers to a combined 52-39 record and coached five All-OVC players in addition to two players recognized on the OVC All-Newcomer Team. Under his leadership, Tennessee State also doubled its home attendance average and twice earned votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll during the 2016-17 season.

A native of Tamms, Ill., Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State University where he was a four-year letterman for the Redbirds under coaches Tom Richardson and Porter Moser from 2002-06. He went on to successful assistant coaching stints at Winthrop and Wichita State under coach Gregg Marshall and later at Illinois State under coach Dan Muller. His coaching resume also includes assistant coaching stops at Chipola (Fla.) College and Tennessee State.

Also noted as a high-level recruiter, Ford has been an assistant coach on two NCAA Tournament teams at Winthrop (2006-07) and Wichita State (2011-12) as well as a NJCAA national final four run at Chipola College (2008-09).

Tennessee State University Director of Athletics Teresa Phillips says the university is grateful for Ford’s time in Nashville.

“We’re really happy to have had Dana for the past four years,” Phillips said “He’s improved the program, and we’re grateful for his contribution to the university. We wish him the best and we’re looking forward to finding the next leader of our program who will take us to the next level.”

A national search for Ford’s replacement will begin immediately.

Ford and his wife, Christina, have two sons, Carson and Cameron, and a daughter, Charlie Rose.

Thursday’s news conference will be shared in real time on Facebook Live and will also be archived there and on the Missouri State Bears YouTube channel.

To get to know coach Ford in a more in depth way read our articles “TSU’s Dana Ford – Part One” and “Part Two“.

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