Wyatt Wheeler Looking for Missouri State’s New Coach

Bears Beat Reporter

(St. Louis, MO) – Missouri State is looking for a new basketball coach. Sunday the university released six-year, head coach Dana Ford. Springfield News Leader reporter Wyatt Wheeler joined ‘Voices of the Valley’ to talk about the changes in Springfield, Missouri as Athletic Director Kyle Moats is looking for Missouri State’s new coach.

Ford won over 56 percent of his games at Missouri State and sustained just one losing season. The former Tennessee State coach has accumulated 163 Division 1 wins. During his six years with the Bears, his teams won at least 16 games every season and reached a high point of 23 victories in 2022. MSU finished this season with a record of 17-16 and it was the fourth time the Bears won exactly 17 games.

The handwriting was on the wall when Moats publicly complained about the team’s lack of effort and passion after a January loss. After stating his displeasure with the team’s performance, Moats said it was up to Ford to make the necessary changes.

“It is coach Ford’s responsibility to get the players to play at a competitive level,” said Moats. “It is my job to continually evaluate the program’s progress to make sure that happens.”

The Bears won five of their next seven games, but then dropped seven of their last ten.

Wheeler tells us rumored candidates include Northwest Missouri State’s Ben McCollum, Kansas State’s Rodney Perry and NBA assistant Blake Ahearn.

Here is our conversation about Missouri State’s new coach.

 

 

Here is the audio only version.

 

The Rumored Candidates

McCollum has won four NCAA Division 2 national championships and twelve conference titles during his 15 seasons with the Bearcats. His current team is 27-4 and playing in the D2 regionals. McCollum’s D2 winning percentage of .809 and his deep runs in the national tournament, remind us of Indiana State coach Josh Schertz’s success.

Perry is an assistant at Kansas State and has a vast amount of coaching experience. He was a head coach at Avila (NAIA) and in the ABA. Most recently he headed up Link Year Academy where the Lions were the 2022 national runner up. Link finished the season with a record of 32-1. He founded two wildly successful AAU programs, one in Springfield, Missouri (The Rockets) and nationally recognized MOKAN Elite.

Ahearn was a star player for Missouri State and is an assistant coach with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. The two-time all Missouri Valley Conference performer may be the greatest free-throw shooter in Valley history. He has an extensive coaching career in high school and at the professional level. He led the Austin Spurs to the 2018 NBA G League championship.

Like Ahearn, Perry is a former Missouri State Bear.

Wyatt Wheeler will keep us up-to-date as Moats and others keep looking for Missouri State’s new coach.

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