GOSLU68

A team has to have heart: MC was about the only one supplying that above talent level.

If players stay they will have to play better than they did for Crews. The bigs are going to look like malnourished pansies compared to Big 12 players Travis Ford is used to seeing. It is not acceptable to stay skinny and get pushed around. MY did not look like he was in shape. Sitting on the bench does not do that by itself if you play hard in practice

The players on the Valpo team would have difficulty starting in the A-10

That stretches what I said beyond its meaning. I relished the Majerus years doesn't mean pickles to you.

He had a wasted year not sure whose fault that is now he sits a year?

He also took Eastern Kentucky to the NCAA in his third year and UMass to NIT in third year. You count half empty I count half full

His pay off is reportedly $7.5 million in oil money for going away as his contract was until 2019

Expect a scrappy defense: This article in depth look at Travis Ford 2015 fighting to get out from under the Eddie Sutton shadow. This was probably about the time James Dickey was being approached to leave as HC of Houston to return home to Stllwater and become an assistant ant to Travis Ford. Remember James Dickey was Eddie Sutton's assistant for years during the great OSU run. These days, Ford, Oklahoma State are exceeding expectations Last season, Travis Ford's star-driven Oklahoma State team underachieved. This year -- with less talent on hand -- the Cowboys have been the surprise of the Big 12. Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports By Reid Forgrave STILLWATER, Okla. I woke up with a start. It was the middle of the night, as dead-quiet as it always is in this exclusive neighborhood next to the Stillwater Country Club. Out the back door was the coachs private fishing pond stocked with bass and catfish; beyond that, the golf course. For a few moments, I couldnt for the life of me remember why I was sleeping here, in Travis Fords guest bedroom. It was shortly before the beginning of this college basketball season. I had come to this cozy university town with one of the prettiest college campuses Ive ever seen to peek behind the curtain of the seventh-year head coach at Oklahoma State University. Ford always has seemed to be one of the most misunderstood coaches in the game, that rare breed who has been a head coach for nearly two decades without ever rising through the ranks as an assistant. Its a journey that has made him, in my view, never fully part of the clubby fraternity that is the world of college coaches. College coaching is a profession where the strongest relationships are forged in the thankless trenches of assistant-ships, through grinding and working your way up. Ford skipped that part. His first coaching job was as an NAIA head coach. He has always seemed an outsider in an insiders world. So why was I here, in the bedroom of the coachs impossibly immaculate home? As the middle-of-the-night fog lifted off my brain, the answers seemed simple: Because on the heels of last seasons roller coaster, Ford was heading into this season with one of the most precarious coaching positions in college basketball, if you listened to hoops pundits and to the restless Oklahoma State fan base. And yet despite all that restlessness, Fords record has been pretty damn good, winning his 300th college game at the ridiculously young age of 43 and averaging a respectable 21 wins a season since coming to Stillwater. I wanted to reconcile those two things that seemed very much at odds. Any way you looked at it, this season was going to come to define Fords tenure at Oklahoma State, for better or worse. Marcus Smart was gone to the NBA, the sting of another early exit from the NCAA tournament was still acute, and the expectations were insultingly low, with the Cowboys picked to finish eighth in a stacked Big 12. WANT MORE COLLEGE HOOPS? See where your team's ranked in the polls ... ... and FOX Sports' college hoops power rankings Check out the latest video See where your team is in the standings Check out the latest scores Earlier that fall day, the enormous gates that enclose Fords neighborhood swung open, and the coachs world opened up to me. At his home, at his practices and at his office, I saw a man who was keenly aware of all the job-security questions yet was not consumed by them. As he told me, I love what I do, I love basketball, but I try not to define everything I do by winning and losing. His only worry was how those questions would affect his wife and three children and their stability at this place they call home. And the house itself? Simply one of the most impressive places youll ever see, an 11,000-square-foot palace that is equal parts shrine to Fords basketball past and an aspiration to his basketball future. Over here, a photo of Ford with Michael Jordan. Over there, a photo of Ford with Dick Vitale. His game-worn shoes from college, bronzed. Magazine covers from Fords record-setting playing career at Kentucky. A newspaper photograph of his college coach, Rick Pitino, hugging Ford moments after Ford had sealed a trip to the Final Four. A ring from his first time coaching in the NCAA tournament, in 2005, when he took Eastern Kentucky a program that had won nine games total in the three years before Ford arrived to its first tournament appearance in 69 years. And a dog lumbering by, a 17-year-old chocolate lab named Riley whom Ford found outside the arena at his first coaching job, scouring through the trash. Earlier that day, I saw Fords 12-year-old daughter, the second of his three kids and the only girl, doing homework at a kitchen counter that seemed impossibly high. I noticed everything at Fords house seem taller than normal: the counters, the beds, the showerheads. Even the deep end of the pool was extra deep. It was only later that I learned Ford and his wife had built this home with the basketball team in mind. He wanted his players to always feel at home here, and part of that was having abnormally tall fixtures. But this place that had been built with tall teenage athletes in mind has become a place where Travis and Heather Ford felt most at home. Three straight wins against ranked teams have Oklahoma State fans a tough group to please buzzing. Joe Robbins / Getty Images North America And so, as I laid in bed in the middle of the night, pondering the next couple days as an embed in the Oklahoma State basketball program, a much more poignant question began to crystallize, something far more pressing than why I was here, sleeping in Travis Fords house. The more important question was this: One year from now, would Travis Ford still be sleeping here? ****** Four months later and that question seems a bit silly. Back then, Ford was on everybodys preseason coach on the hot seat list. Thats what happens when a talented group underachieves in the NCAA tournament two years in a row. Thats what happens when a big-time program hasnt made the Sweet 16 since 2005, legendary head coach Eddie Suttons next-to-last season. READ REID ON COLLEGE HOOPS Reid Forgrave covers college basketball for FS1. Click here to read his recent work. But these days, Fords Cowboys are rolling, fresh off back-to-back upsets of eighth-ranked Kansas and 16th-ranked Baylor. Theyre ranked 21st in the country and ought to only rise in the polls next week after playing conference bottom-feeder TCU this weekend. Perhaps Ford is better suited to the underdog role; in this season of low expectations, Oklahoma State is 17-7 with a 7-5 record in the nations deepest conference, including five wins against top-25 teams. The past week marked the first time in program history Oklahoma State beat three straight ranked teams in the regular season. The Pokes have done it with a scrappy, defensive brand of basketball that feels more suited to the old Big East than todays Big 12. Before the season, as I was watching an intense, focused practice where it seemed a few fights might break out among teammates, Ford told me his biggest concern with this team was that his players would be too competitive. Peeking into just one practice, you could feel that enormous chip on this teams shoulder. We dont have that NBA talent, junior sharpshooter Phil Forte, the teams second-leading scorer, told me after a preseason practice. We might not have that talent, but we are hard-nosed. We scrap and we claw. Hard-nosed and scrappy: Sure, cliché, but that doesnt make it any less true. This team has the nations 15th most efficient defense, according to KenPom.com, and grabs more steals than nearly any team in college hoops. What remains unsaid in Fortes comment is that one year ago, this team was also hard-nosed and scrappy but it did have that NBA talent. Point guard and team leader Marcus Smart ended up being picked sixth overall, and shooting guard Markel Brown was a second-round pick. That team fell short of its high hopes. COACH 1K For more on coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke, click here. Depending who is telling the story, last season at Oklahoma State was either a perfect example of big-time potential gone up in flames or a perfect example of a team facing a seemingly insurmountable amount of obstacles and, frankly, bad luck and managing to salvage something out of it. In both story lines, Ford is the man at the center. Leading into last season, when Smart surprised many by staying in college for his sophomore year, the Cowboys faced enormous expectations. Oklahoma State was the team that would halt Kansas remarkable streak of Big 12 titles. The Cowboys were a trendy dark-horse Final Four pick for many people I know they were mine and things started out pretty damn well. They were ranked eighth in the country in the preseason, then rose to sixth just before the new year. I was as high on Oklahoma State, and specifically on Smart, as you could be. Then yikes. What the public will forever remember from Oklahoma States roller coaster last season is the image of Smart shoving a Texas Tech fan in the middle of a February road loss. It was an ugly scene, the personification of a teams wheels having come off. To people outside the program, it was when all that Oklahoma State potential went up in flames, a tabloid touch added to the seven-game Big 12 losing streak the Cowboys were in the midst of. And Ford, whose facial expression on the sideline was one of a man staring at a speeding train, became the scapegoat alongside his beloved star player. That one moment was, for some, the metaphor of a coach who had lost control of his program. Michael Cobbins' injury set last season on the wrong path long before the team's seven-game losing streak. Alonzo Adams / USA TODAY Sports But the hidden story is how a set of unpredictable and perhaps unavoidable circumstances put Ford and his team in that situation, where his frustrated star player saw a season spinning out of control and, for a moment, he spun out of control, too. It all started not at Texas Tech on Feb. 8, 2014, but instead more than a month before, on the day before New Years Eve, the final non-conference game before the Big 12 gauntlet began. In that game, Michael Cobbins, Fords starting junior center and the hustling backbone of this team, fell to the floor a few minutes in. He hobbled off the court with what would later be diagnosed as a season-ending injury to his Achilles tendon. On the surface, it didnt seem like a huge loss; Cobbins averaged only 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds. But Cobbins was a veteran leader, and more important, he was the main post presence for a team that was great in the backcourt but thin down low. A few days later, Oklahoma State lost to Kansas State in its Big 12 opener. It was the first of a string of heart-breakers, the first of what would become seven one-possession losses in the next couple months, including four in overtime. A few weeks after that, Ford tossed his backup point guard, Stevie Clark, off the team after Clark was arrested for urinating out the window of a moving car, the third time hed been in trouble that season. By the time star guard Marcus Smart tangled with this fan a year ago, Oklahoma State was already in a nosedive. John Weast / Getty Images North America Then came Smarts outburst. Which, by the way, happened on the same day Smarts mother, who had been dealing with serious kidney issues, was put in the hospital with blood pressure that was acting up. Ford was left in an enormous pickle: During a season in which the world was expected of him, he was left with only six rotation players and then, after Smarts ensuing suspension, one fewer. All that drama was what put Ford on so many about-to-get-fired lists before this season began. But what I prefer to focus on is what happened to the this team after Smart returned from his three-game suspension. Oklahoma State was spinning out of control, but then, to everyones surprise, it wasnt. No team in history had experienced a seven-game losing streak then made the NCAA tournament. But the Cowboys won five of their next seven games, including an upset of fifth-ranked Kansas. (Both of those losses were in overtime, of course.) They made the tournament, which, given the past couple months, was an enormous achievement even though things ended quickly with a first-round loss to Gonzaga. But Oklahoma State fans are not a patient bunch. WHO'S UP, WHO'S DOWN? Check out who ranks where in the Top 25. It was a perfect storm in the best league in the country and we got it back, which is the hardest thing to do, Ford told me. The job stuff, it doesnt bother me. I question it. I look at it and think, Weve won a lot! Look at the games weve won. Weve made four of six NCAA tournaments. Look at who weve beaten. Weve done a lot. Part of it doesnt make sense. Thats the biggest thing. You tell me, you sit down and look what weve done here, the ranked teams weve beaten. He paused and shook his head. Theres guys whove done a whole lot less whove gotten extensions. ****** It was 7:04 a.m. on a perfect Oklahoma fall day, and Ford already had dropped his oldest son, Brooks, off at school for his first basketball practice of the year. CHEER ON! No one gets college basketball venues rockin like these harbingers of school spirit. Come check out the nations best cheerleaders. The remains of Brooks pancakes and bacon sat in the back seat as Ford pulled his Escalade into his parking spot. Gallagher-Iba Arena, the Madison Square Garden of the Plains, cast an enormous shadow as he hopped out of his SUV and walked inside to the basketball court. The arena was dark and spookily quiet. It has an aura thats rare and beautiful in an age of glitzy NBA-style facilities. The court itself is the oldest in the country, full of dead spots, age 75 and never replaced, instead just refinished every year. Its named after Henry Iba, the Hall of Fame coach who brought Oklahoma State its only two national titles in basketball. Iba is just one of the many long shadows of history cast over Fords tenure. Think about what loomed over Ford when, as a rising 38-year-old head coach, he started at Oklahoma State in 2008. First and foremost was the memory of Sutton, the man who restored Oklahoma State basketball after decades in the doldrums. Sutton was immediately embraced as an insider in this community since he had played at Oklahoma State in the 1950s. He took this program to two Final Fours. The nations oldest basketball court? It was renamed Eddie Sutton Court a few years before Ford took over. However, the transition away from Sutton was messy. In 2006, in the middle of the first season Sutton hadnt made the NCAA tournament in nearly a decade, he was cited in a drunk-driving crash. He later resigned, and his son, Sean Sutton who had played under his father at Oklahoma State took over. He missed the NCAA tournament in both seasons and was forced to resign, a victim, athletic director Mike Holder said, of high expectations. It was under this shadow that Ford took over. Ford has never been as good of a politician as a coach, and that has hurt him at times. Mark D. Smith / USA TODAY Sports Theres still a lot of Sutton people here, Oklahoma State assistant coach Chris Ferguson, who worked on Sean Suttons staff, told me. Big Coach did a lot of great things and revived this program. Theres a lot of people who are still true to him, even though Travis wasnt part of that. The big thing? Even though weve been to the NCAA tournament, weve only won one game in the NCAA tournament. Big Coach had been to two Final Fours. There are other shadows of history, too, apart from Sutton, apart from the NCAA tournament losses. There are Fords parents, who were both high school coaches; one of Fords earliest memories was of, at age 3 or 4, his dad sitting in the stands at a womens high school basketball game and having young Travis run a note down to his mother on the sideline with some advice. Theres an athletic program that has more history than just about any other. Oklahoma State has won 51 national championships in all sports, fifth in the nation. Every time Ford goes to work, hes next to Heritage Hall, where Barry Sanders Heisman sits among one of the most impressive collections of college sports memorabilia youll ever see. And theres Fords own shadow, the perfectionist nature of a man who went to a Final Four with the nations best basketball program, who works insane 18-hour days of recruiting and coaching yet cant seem to accomplish the seemingly simple task of getting people the fan base, the media, the coaches who are his contemporaries to fully accept him. Im not a good marketer, Ford told me. I dont play the political part of it. I probably need to be better about it. Im more of a traditionalist. I guess I just love the game but not all the other parts. As Ford was saying this on that fall morning, he was walking into the teams locker room. You couldnt detect a limp in his stride despite the six knee surgeries and the hip replacement. The arena might have that aura of history, but that Cowboys locker room? Theres a very different aura there. Somewhere between the gaudiest NBA locker room and ornate Roman baths, I thought. Its a two-level spectacle, full of marble, big-screen televisions connected to video-game consoles and a never-ending spread of food. The most stunning locker room Ive ever seen. This is one more shadow that hangs over Fords tenure: With the gobs of money poured into Oklahoma State athletics come expectations that are often a bit unrealistic. Yes, this is just part of Oklahoma State's spectacular locker room. Phil Shockley When Ford walks into a pre-practice meeting with his assistants, though, all that noise melts away, because this is a place where he is in control. Like most coaches, Ford is a control freak, insanely detail-oriented. Every practice hes conducted in seven years at Oklahoma State is written up in painstaking detail and placed in a folder. For this practice, Ford had things divided up into 14 segments. Work on the fast break. Work on spacing no dribbling, just passing. Work on LeBryan Nashs offensive rebounding. Work, work, work. Not long after, Ford was courtside with a whistle dangling around his neck. In practice, the team reminded me of Wichita State from two years ago: a tough, intense bunch. Players banged in the post. They hit the floor. They fell into the stanchion. There were shoves on the perimeter as they worked on spacing. Ford seemed more at ease here than Id ever seen him, nudging his team toward playing with even more intensity, and this was the moment I first remember thinking: This will be a team that will surprise people. ****** Ten oclock on the dot in Stillwater. The entire basketball staff filed into the conference room. Rain was in the forecast for the next day. That was bad news really bad news. PLAYERS ONLY Get the latest from our former pros with our Players Only page. Because when Ford has one shot to show off his program to one of the top recruits in the country and when he wants the recruits mother to be wowed by the beauty and the buzz of the Oklahoma State campus he wants absolutely every single detail in place. He wants to control it all. The meal thats waiting for the recruit at his hotel. The song thats playing on the speakers when the staff gives him a tour of the locker room. The bustle on campus when hes getting a tour. The players food choices at the Ford home: Whether the kid loves peach cobbler, or whether the mother loves carrot cake, Heather will whip something up. And, yes, the weather. You can do everything right, Ford shrugged, but you cant control that. Ford is an obsessively organized man. Staffers swear hes often in this building 18 hours a day. Remember that practice folder? If you want to know how Ford taught an offensive rebounding drill on one specific day back in 2009, its in there. That organization leads to this elaborately planned recruiting visit for a guy who one coach told me could be a program-changer. The point is to wow him and his mother, to show them how much he will be valued here. More than that, the point is to let this kid envision himself in this place. Ford knows the amount of time he spends with a recruit shows how much he values that recruit. And when Ford wants a guy, he goes after him. He once left Stillwater at 11 p.m. one night to drive to Dallas; the recruits mother was a bus driver in Dallas, and Ford rode alongside her on her 5 a.m. shift. When top recruit Diamond Stone visited campus last fall, Oklahoma State's staff was more than prepared. Francois Nel / Getty Images Europe Ford passed out a sheet of paper to all his staffers. The group hopes this visit will convince Diamond Stone, a high school senior from Milwaukee who is one of the best centers in the country, to join elite Dallas point guard Jawun Evans for a recruiting class that would be Fords biggest coup since landing Smart. The schedule was broken down to the minute, and there was plenty more to do before Diamond landed in Oklahoma City later that night. Test the videoboard in Gallagher-Iba Arena; when Ford shows the teenager a glitzy highlights video in the darkened arena, the videoboard better not malfunction. Get to the recruits hotel room early for a dry run. The mothers room better be next to the sons room. The room better be clean. The toilets better flush. The television remotes better work. Oh, and a meal better be waiting. Diamonds favorite meal? Shrimp pasta. Order it. His mom will be really attentive, Ford reminded his staff. Shell pop in and ask everyone a question. Be prepared. STORIES WORTH SHARING Blind pole vaulter wins medal at state meet Report: Phil Jackson unhappy Isiah back at Garden Manziel running with older crowd in new neighborhood Posada: It was a gas with umps behind plate Jimenez's hole-in-one worth 288 bottles of beer Colts D-lineman too big to fit in his new Corvette The drive from Oklahoma City to Stillwater: What music will be playing on assistant coach Butch Pierres iPod? Al Green, baby. This kid is cool. He digs soul music along with modern stuff. When Diamond walks in the locker room for the first time, catered food needs to be waiting. The televisions have to be on. Cue up that game when Oklahoma State upset Kansas a couple years ago. Have NBA2K loaded in the PlayStation and ready to go on the giant screen in the players lounge. Diamond loves NBA2K. What music should be playing on the locker room tour? There was a pause among the coaches. Whats Diamonds favorite song? Blank stares. An assistant coach texted Diamonds AAU coach. Are the gift baskets done? Yes. Catered lunch ordered? Yes. What about wives of the basketball staff will they be around at breakfast to talk with Diamonds mother? Of course. Heather especially. (Earlier, shed told me the message she gives recruits mothers: Mother to mother, I promise you Im going to love on your child. If you dont like the sound in their voice, Ill check up on them.) TUNE IN TODAY! Find FS1 and FS2 on your TV right here Get complete information about FS1 here Academics? Someone will be talking with Diamond from the sports management department thats what he wants to major in. Media relations? Theres a presentation planned, where the media coordinator shows him how hell be made the face of the program. Life planning? Pierre will show Diamond and his mother a plan to get his degree in five or six years if he ends up going to the NBA after one. And theres a presentation about a $10 million insurance policy the school will purchase to insure him if he comes back to school as a sophomore. Weather report: Itll be 67 degrees the next day. Need to have Oklahoma State jackets on hand? No the kids from Milwaukee, 67 is not cold for him. But there will be an 80 percent chance of rain. The staff sighed. Make sure giant orange and black umbrellas are ready. An assistant coachs phone buzzed. A text from Diamonds AAU coach. His favorite song, the coach said, is Young Jeezy, Get Ya Mind Right. Cue it up in the locker room. Pull out all the stops. ****** DEAN SMITH: 1931-2015 Legendary coach Dean Smith dies Social media reaction to Smith's passing Forgrave: Smith a legend off court too Photos: Dean Smith through the years Michael Jordan on Smith: 'More than a coach' Scout.com: Smith tributes and more Former players praise Smith's loyalty There is no guarantee Ford will get this elite teenager to come to Oklahoma State next season. There is no guarantee Ford will be in Stillwater next season, either. There are no guarantees of anything in college basketball. It may be the most fickle sport there is, especially in the age of one-and-dones. Every team goes through cycles, with the exception of a handful of bluebloods, yet there is very little patience to let a coach right the ship. Thats where Ford sits today. A ship that appeared veering off course four months ago seems more than stable now. Its similar to the story of last season: Ford and his team set things right when they appeared to be going wrong. Theres even been buzz this week, after the teams three straight wins over ranked opponents, about Ford being the Big 12 Coach of the Year. His Cowboys have six games left in the Big 12 regular season. Three of those are against ranked teams one against Iowa State and two against West Virginia and two are at home. Theres an outside shot that Oklahoma State, picked to finish near the bottom of the nations deepest conference, could win the Big 12. A few months ago, that would have sounded insane. I called Ford this week to catch up. He had told me in the preseason this team would overachieve. He had told me the Cowboys would be tough and scrappy, get steals, surprise everybody. Instead of sulking because of lack of minutes or lack of shots a mentality that is the bane of so many college coaches existences these players, he had predicted, would be the type that would rush over to help up a teammate who hit the floor. He was right. Phil Forte is one of the leaders of an Oklahoma State team that has overachieved this season. Raymond Carlin III / USA TODAY Sports The sky is not falling like so many people thought, Ford told me this week. I never thought that. I never quite understood it. But its the world we live in. This team, he continued, has accepted who they are. Not every team does that. All 16 of them, theyve accepted that this is what I need to do, that this is who we are. And we use that to help us win games. The Oklahoma State Cowboys have all but sealed up an NCAA tournament bid, and a relatively soft remaining Big 12 schedule means their prospective tournament seed ought to only rise in the next month. Perhaps the best role for Ford, with all the shadows and the expectations, with all the doubters and the critics, is here, urging on a team that nobody expected much of at all. Forte, a guy few thought could play at this level, is third in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 17 points. Nash, a once-elite recruit who until this season was thought of as a player who never fulfilled his promise, is second in the Big 12 scoring race, a shade above his teammate. Point guard Anthony Hickey, an LSU transfer who has never played in the NCAA tournament, is the floor general. Cobbins, coming off a major injury, is back to his normal, grinding self. We got some guys on this team that people didnt believe in, Ford said. I use it every day. I push those buttons every day. You go through our team, theyre all fighting the odds a bit. And thats motivation, if its channeled in the right way. And we understand that winning can change all of that. Winning, it seems, has changed all that. And so Ford has found his perfect role: as the coach people didnt believe in, leading the players people didnt believe in, during a season that just a few months ago would have seemed pretty unbelievable.

Supposedly, Gak had been asked to NBA top 100 camp so it is a good sign that Travis Ford can attract and sign top players. Gak is only 3.3 star on verbal commits though. Ford was after 4 and 5 stars. We signed a walk on and told GG to go elsewhere- rebounding is for players worried about the past according to Crews theory- better to be back early to ward off fast breaks.

James Dickey former Houston HC and also former Sutton assistant was also an assistant who said he wanted to bring his family back to Stillwater. He may not want to make the move either?

saved time for those too busy to find the history themselves. If it is too much energy to survey eight years of his work don't read it. This is a great hire. I wished we had taken him right from U-Mass. Of course I relished the Majerus years but not the Staff and assistants leaving constantly under Rick.

After attending Madisonville North Hopkins High School, Kentucky Ford entered the University of Missouri in 1989. He played basketball for the Missouri Tigers and was named to the Big Eight Conference All-Freshman team. The following year, Ford transferred to the University of Kentucky and sat out the 199091 season due to NCAA rules on transfers. After playing sparingly his sophomore year, Ford was a starter during his junior and senior years, and set school records in single-game assists (15), single-season three-point field goals (101) and consecutive free throws made (50). Ford was named to the All-SEC team his junior and senior years, and was recognized as the Southeast Region's Most Outstanding Player in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. After an unsuccessful attempt at an NBA career, Ford landed the role of Danny O'Grady in the 1997 movie The 6th Man. He is not going to dump us to coach in the NBA if that worries anyone. Since he had a contract through 2019 we have to assume the SLU administration saved money over hiring An employed coach. Lisa Stone was fired and she has the women's team primed to contend. We will have the most upbeat photogenic coaches since the Spoon era and the Mizzou fans can eat their hearts out over what might have been had he not realized what a mistake playing in Columbia was.

Travis Ford is great for us. He is 46. He has coached and recruited teams that have beaten most of the Big 12 teams a number of times. He has beaten Kansas home and away. He had a successful three years in the A 10 check out the attendance at UMass before and after. Who has Drew beaten to get everyone all stirred up? This is a successful Kentucky player. If we don't win the A10 in two years remind me about your whining.

He recruited players of a level we have rarely seen at Chaifetz. Give this history some thought. He beat Kansas a number of times- not bad for a coach that some said was not a good court general: Travis Ford out at Oklahoma State: A timeline of his eight seasons in Stillwater - Staff - STEPHEN PINGRY Travis Ford the new basketball head coach at OSU during press conference , April 17, 2008. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World 0 BY MARK COOPER World Sports Writer | Posted 2 weeks ago Revisiting Travis Ford's as Oklahoma State head coach: April 17, 2008: Ford introduced as coach In his first news conference as Oklahoma State coach, Travis Ford said his goal was to bring OSU to a national championship. His hire came after three seasons as coach at UMass. Nov. 14, 2008: Fords first game His Oklahoma State players gave him the game ball after a 76-57 win over UTSA in Fords first game as coach. Ford said he was on edge for the game. March 12, 2009: Bedlam bright spot One huge exception to Fords Bedlam troubles: This Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal in Oklahoma City. James Anderson made two free throws in the final seconds to give OSU a 71-70 win over a top-10 OU team that featured Blake Griffin. Overall, OSU went 6-13 against OU under Ford, never winning in Norman. March 20-22, 2009: The honeymoon For a program that had not even been to the NCAA Tournament in three years, Oklahoma States 2008-09 season was an immense success. The cherry on top was a 77-75 victory over Tennessee in the tournaments opening round in Dayton, Ohio, followed by a hard-fought 84-76 loss to top-seeded Pittsburgh. Sept. 11, 2009: The contract Fresh off a successful first season and with the possibility that Ford could be a commodity, Oklahoma State signed Ford to a contract extension through 2019. Said Athletic Director Mike Holder at the time: We consider Travis a rising star in the coaching profession and look forward to his leadership for many years to come. Dec. 2, 2009: Tulsas Hurricane After starting the season 6-0, Oklahoma State took a pounding at the hands of Tulsa, losing 86-65 in the first game OSU played on Tulsas campus since 1922. Feb. 27, 2010: Toppling No. 1 In the first of a series of signature wins over Kansas, Oklahoma State knocked off the 27-1 Jayhawks 85-77 behind 27 points by James Anderson. Said KU coach Bill Self: I dont see a lot of teams beating them if (Keiton) Page, (Obi) Muonelo and Anderson are that good. I really dont. March 19, 2010: The first early exit After the big win over the Jayhawks, the Cowboys lost three of five to end Fords second season, concluding with a 64-59 loss to Georgia Tech in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament. As it would turn out, Oklahoma State would not move past the Round of 64 again under Ford. Oct. 29, 2010: A recruiting coup LeBryan Nash will always be legendary in the DFW. His commitment to Oklahoma State at the start of Fords third season cemented Fords status as a strong recruiter. Nash was ranked the No. 6 player in his class by Rivals.com. March 15, 2011: NITing For the first time in the Ford era, OSU misses the NCAA Tournament. Only 5,342 come to the Cowboys first-round NIT game against Harvard. Overall, OSU made five of eight NCAA Tournaments with Ford as coach. Sept. 12, 2011: Smart + Forte While Nash was as high-profile a commitment as OSU received with Ford, this one was the most impactful. On the same day, Flower Mound (Texas) Marcus teammates Marcus Smart and Phil Forte pledged to play for the Cowboys. Smart would become the player most associated with this era of Oklahoma State hoops. Forte is still around, five years later. Dec. 31, 2011: A trying season For the first time in the Ford era, the Cowboys lose a home nonconference game, falling to Virginia Tech 67-61. It leaves Oklahoma State at 7-6 entering Big 12 play, setting the stage for the Cowboys first losing season since 1987-88. March 8, 2012: No postseason An 88-70 loss to Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament sealed it: There would be no postseason, NIT or otherwise, for Oklahoma State. It was the first time since 1996 the season ended at the conference tournament. Feb. 2, 2013: Phoglights A couple of down seasons seemed well in the past on this night, as Marcus Smart, Markel Brown and Lob Stilly made OSU students basketball-mad again. The Cowboys went into Allen Fieldhouse and ended No. 2 Kansas 33-game home win streak. Smart celebrated the win with a backflip. Feb. 16, 2013: Seven in a row Two weeks after the win at KU, Oklahoma State had things rolling toward March and perhaps a chance at unseating Kansas. The Cowboys knocked off rival Oklahoma in overtime for their seventh win in a row and remained in a three-way tie with Kansas and Kansas State atop the conference at 9-3. Ford grabbed the microphone inside GIA after the game and said: Thank you for bringing the rowdy back. This is what Gallagher-Iba is supposed to look like. March 21, 2013: Oregone The Cowboys finished a respectable third in the Big 12 and earned a No. 5 seed, the best of the Ford era. But a bad draw 12th-seeded Oregon was underseeded and inexperience meant Fords best team was one-and-done. The Ducks won 68-55. April 17, 2013: The return Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, LeBryan Nash and Travis Ford all stood in OSUs Student Union on a day to celebrate a day to believe Oklahoma State would have a Final Four team next season. Thats because they all decided to return for one more run at the NCAA Tournament, led by Smart. The trio entered 2013-14 as the top three returning scorers in the Big 12 Nov. 19, 2013: The peak If only Oklahoma State could have bottled up their performance on this night to save for, say, an NCAA Tournament game. With Kevin Durant sitting courtside, Smart put on an absolute clinic, scoring 39 points as OSU rolled No. 11 Memphis 101-80 in GIA. The Cowboys moved up to No. 5 in the country the following Monday. Feb. 8, 2014: The shove For as much as the Memphis game was a highlight of the Smart era, this was the lowlight. On an Oklahoma State team already melting down (this game against Texas Tech was its fourth consecutive loss), Smart shoved a Tech fan late in the game and was suspended for three games. The losing streak grew to seven, matching the seven games in a row OSU won a year earlier in the same month. March 1, 2014: Kansas saves OSU again For whatever reason, Fords teams always had Kansas number. Oklahoma State did again on this day, beating No. 5 Kansas 72-65 in Gallagher-Iba. The win helped ensure this supremely talented team would not miss the NCAA Tournament. March 21, 2014: A lost season If you told someone back on Feb. 16, 2013, that Marcus Smart and Markel Brown would play together for two seasons and never win an NCAA Tournament game, you may have been laughed out of Stillwater. Well it happened. The Lob Stilly era ended with an 85-77 loss to Gonzaga in San Diego, a doleful end to a tumultuous year. Oct. 9, 2014: Picking up the pieces A new Oklahoma State team led by veterans LeBryan Nash, Phil Forte and Michael Cobbins was picked to finish eighth of 10 teams in the Big 12. After two years of national headlines, no one was talking about the Cowboys. Feb. 4-9, 2015: The final peak Fords NCAA Tournament teams all had one common characteristic: They would get hot at some point in February. This OSU team achieved that in a six-day span, winning at Texas and Baylor while letting its fans storm the court following a home win over Kansas. All three opponents were ranked at the time, and soon enough, the Cowboys were, too, at 17-7 and 7-5 in the Big 12. Feb. 14, 2015: The start of the downfall at TCU Oh, how quickly that run ended for Oklahoma State. Five days after the monumental win at Baylor, the Cowboys were listless in a 70-55 loss at TCU in a high school gym with Smart in attendance. The chip on Oklahoma States shoulder that Ford and players talked about much of the season? Gone. March 20, 2015: Oregone, again Despite losing six of its final seven games, Oklahoma State earned a No. 9 seed and reached the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season. It ended the same way a first-round exit. Oklahoma State lost 79-73 to Oregon in a game remembered for an ill-advised foul at the end of the first half. OSU thought it had a foul to give. It did not, and the blunder gave Oregon some true free throws. March 31, 2015: Another year Speculation was rampant that Oklahoma State would part ways with Ford after seven seasons, but Athletic Director Mike Holder put an end to it with a statement that Ford would remain coach. We are fully committed to coach Ford and supporting him and our basketball program, Holder said. Nov. 19, 2015: Bad luck In hindsight, the season was cursed from the start. With Tavarius Shine (shoulder) and Leyton Hammonds (pneumonia) already out, Phil Forte left the first half of OSUs game against Towson with an elbow injury. It would be the last game Oklahoma States leader would enter all season, as a torn ligament kept him out all year. Dec. 5, 2015: Bad play Oklahoma State fell at home to Missouri State 64-63 in what was one of the worst losses by the Cowboys in a long time. Oklahoma State lost consecutive nonconference home games for the first time since 1985, and fell to a Bears team that finished below .500 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Jan. 13, 2016: The belief Could Jawun Evans save Oklahoma State? That was a valid question after the freshman gave one of the best performances Gallagher-Iba Arena has ever seen. The point guard scored 42 points, nearly bringing OSU back against No. 2 Oklahoma before the Cowboys lost 74-72. The outing seemed to break him out of his shell for the next three weeks and he led OSU to yet another win over Kansas. March 4, 2016: The sadness In the final home game of the Ford era, a 62-50 loss to Texas, the listed attendance was 4,023, the smallest for a conference home game since 1986. Average attendance in Fords first season was 10,031. In his last year, it was 5,857. March 9, 2016: The end After Evans joined Forte on the season-ending injury list, Oklahoma State went into full freefall, losing 10 of its final 11 games. That includes a one-and-done at the Big 12 Tournament, where the always-fighting Cowboys lost 75-71 to Kansas State in the opening round. At 12-20, Oklahoma State posted its worst record in 29 years. Mark Cooper 918-581-8387 [email protected]

A big man coach for centers and power forwards and possibly Erwin Claggett or Justin Love to coach shooting guards. A coach who can travel internationally from Australia to Russia to get us a 280 pound Number 5 man who will rebound and stop up the middle with blocked shots

Obviously, Hines and Jolly should not have scholarships. If Travis Ford has players to bring in he should run off our players just like Majerus did. We want decisions not excuses.

How would you as a player like to play for Jim Crews? Crews- decidedly the worst coaching since Rich Grawer's 5-23 or so season. An head coach who gave up his game planning to each of his assistants in an alternating pattern. A coach who seem to kill the instinct of natural shooters. A coach who stuck players behind other players as he could only handle 4-5 types in the game at one time-given we had no true 5 most of the time. A coach who ask the team to run the other way after we shot rather than follow up your shot or pay attention to where the ball was. Etc Etc Etc

I have friends who bought tickets when Travis Ford turned around the UMass situation. He was a very young coach at the time. His recent recruits at Oklahoma State were 3.7 down to 3.4 while Crews was giving a scholarship to a very nice but short walk on when we were a dismal rebounding team. My guess is he gets the attention of our current players and brings in a staff that can inspire players. This staff under Crews was loaded with Croanies that could not implement Majerus pick and roll or Bobby Knight motion. If we played in the Big 12 we would be happy to say we went to the tournament 60 percent of the time. The first thing he needs to get straight with Chris May is a poor out of conference schedule will barely get you a ticket to the WNIT- and I am sure Lisa Stone will back him up on that. Why would anyone listen to Quinn Snyder sycophant Randy Karraker how that lunkhead keeps a job in this town is beyond me. I would bet Travis Ford gets us going before The state schools with the so called money advantage figure out what we have known all along a lot of kids would rather play ball in a city that knows sports than in a cornfield.

Why would anyone complain about Crews at this point. The job should have never been offered to him. There were many more worse choices at the time. I hope they go back to the idea of bringing in a truly great coach such as we did with Majerus. Over the years there were many bad coaches that quickly took us to the edge of Division 2 ball. This MBB team is important to the image of the school and recruitment of all sports and academic scholars. With Lisa Stone having the women's program a year ahead of schedule we can be one of those elite schools with great men and women's sports

Rick Stansbury former Mississippi State HC and assist at Texas A&M to coach men's basketball at WKU

Kevin Stallings would help us recruit Altoff and Colinsville against U of Illinois. I looked at his verbal commits info current roster ratings which looks a step up on stars and body sizes. Seven NCAA tournaments in 17 years is not that great but better than we did over same span. I would have liked him better than Spoon all those years ago. Maybe he would help us sell tickets on the East Side as well. Locals are not happy that this team did not do better as he has three kids projected going to NBA this year we have never had that much talent on a starting five

Team Stream BLEACHER REPORT INC. Free - On the App Store Install CBBBracket GameMore Ranking the 10 Best Assistant Coaches in College Basketball in 2014-15 9. Rick Stansbury, Mississippi State « PREV3 of 12NEXT » 9. Rick Stansbury, Mississippi StateRonald Martinez/Getty Images Age: 54 Year at school: 1st Rick Stansbury spent 14 seasons as Mississippi State's coach before announcing his retirement in 2012, but the Bulldogs' all-time wins leader got the itch to be back on the sidelines this spring when he joined Billy Kennedy's staff at Texas A&M. With the Aggies, Stansbury will help work the recruiting magic that enabled him to land strong classes while at Mississippi State. According to his A&M bio, Stansbury had five top-20 recruiting classes between 2003 and 2011. And since arriving in College Station, the Aggies have landed commitments from a pair of 4-star prospects for 2015 in power forward D.J. Hogg and center Tyler Davis. Stansbury, who, according to Matthew Stevens of the Starkville Dispatch, was linked to head coach openings at Auburn and Southern Mississippi, will face his old team on Jan. 13 in SEC play. There's no return trip to Mississippi State on the schedule.

Please don't say this as Chris May will book them. We have been asking for first semester teams everyone has heard of but when you read next year's schedule and see Stetson are we going to remember it is a hat company in Saint Joe, MO that made Stetson famous not its basketball team?

Crews is not even close to smart. The first clue should be he sat on IU bench as an assistant for nearly 20 years without being sought as a head coach. 2nd clue Evansville fired him. Third clue Army fired him and they are used to losing. Crews has been letting the assistants take turns planning each game. He has built a shell between himself and the reality of SLU basketball. Starting Hines game after game could only be compounded by the stupidity of having Crews back another year and Hines getting another year of scholarship. This team needed a rebounder and a point guard. Watching Hines get stuffed, pass like a freshman and Go 1/8 was certainly turning the knife after getting it run into my gut. The start of this season saw an improved Davel Roby. Obviously, he had practiced his three point shooting which would add to his ability to steal the ball. Fast Forward Davel Roby sits the bench for the start or nearly all of second semester. Team steals evaporate. Miles Reynolds becomes team leader in assists and steals fast forward MR gets buried on bench. Tanner Lancona could pass from high post. TL could shoot half way decent when he got here. He along with most of our shooters started rushing their shots out of lack of confidence. Austin McBroom came here as a shooter and Crews got him to give up shooting to look for assists. He passed up open shots for fear of the bench. If Crews stays look for anyone on this team with talent to leave

I wasn't going to even open this thread. I think I may just start watching the games on TV. After all I live 1.6 miles from Chaifetz and even though I prepaid parking and have really good seats I made the mistake of going to the pinkout. WBB game was superior as far as coaching and kids trying hard than any game I went to for men's team last two years. Current coaching smacks of having lost the whole team except Crawford but unable to strike back at the more talented kids. Running off Grandy, Lancona, and McBroom did not get through to this team. They don't make plays, they are too slow or too ineffectual to finish baskets. They resort to trying to score one on one. Playing Hines gave us a chance to see another kid too slow to make a layup.