Meet SLU Coach Travis Ford

(St. Louis, MO) – Saint Louis University’s new head basketball coach is comfortable in his own skin. He relishes his memories at former schools, embraces the challenges of the Atlantic 10 Conference and he has significant influences in his life that give him balance in his approach to life and basketball.

Travis Ford was introduced to fans and St. Louis media on Thursday and the former Oklahoma State coach scored with the fans and media by announcing he is a Cardinals fan and that Redbird outfielder Matt Holliday is a personal friend.

Beyond that solid PR move, Ford told people all they needed to hear. He plans on playing an uptempo, NBA style offense and a pressing defense. Those are vast departures from the Rick Majerus/Jim Crews/Brad Soderberg teams of the last decade. He is intent on Billiken basketball being nationally competitive AND entertaining.

Ford spent five seasons in the Ohio Valley Conference lifting Eastern Kentucky out of the dolldrums and leading them to into the NCAA Tournament and OVC relevance. He previously coached in the A-10 at Massachusetts. I asked him about his time at EKU and to respond to the ‘accusation’ that the A-10 is a ‘mid-major’ conference.

 

 

But what is the fabric of a good coach? Travis Ford spoke highly of his playing experiences at Missouri and Kentucky. He praised his former coaches, including Norm Stewart, even though he was only in Columbia for one year.

Ford who is a confessed ‘gym rat’ basically grew up in a gym. His father (Dick) was a basketball coach and took his little boy with him everywhere. Ford believes that experience helps him immensely. He told everyone at the press conference that he was coaching in St. Louis, because God has a purpose for his life.

So I asked Travis Ford about those two major influences in his life.

 

 

Ford is heading to Houston to the Final Four to work on his coaching staff and is going to be on the recruiting trail too. There were influential high school and AAU coaches at Thursday’s reception and each one I spoke with approved of the hiring of Ford.

Ford and Director of Athletics Chris May were downright giddy on Thursday. Ford was effusive about the way May conducted the whole process. May confessed that from their very first conversation he thought Ford was the right choice for the Billiken job.

Do Good