Missouri State picks Dana Ford as next men's basketball coach
The search for the next Missouri State men’s basketball coach at Missouri State University is over, as the university announced Wednesday that Dana Ford will take over.
Missouri State made the decision official one day after it was reported that the school and Ford were closing in on a deal by ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Goodman.
Ford will be formally introduced at a news conference at 9 a.m.on Thursday.
Ford, 33, was unanimously approved by the Missouri State University Board of Governors Executive Committee on Wednesday afternoon.
The move came 18 days after Missouri State parted ways with seventh-year head coach Paul Lusk. His replacement, Ford, comes to Missouri State after four years as the head coach of Tennessee State.
He compiled a 57-65 record during his tenure, but the Tigers went 5-26 during Ford’s first season in charge. The following season, Ford completed one of the best turnarounds in college basketball, leading the Tigers to a 20-11 record and to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
He was named the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and was awarded the Ben Jobe Award as the nation’s top Division I minority coach. Former Missouri State head coach and current Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin won the Ben Jobe Award in 2011.
Tennessee State finished the 2017-18 season 15-15 and lost in the first round of the OVC Tournament. This came after going 17-13 in 2016-17 and failing to reach the postseason.
When he took over at Tennessee State, Ford was the youngest permanent head coach in the country. His energy and the success of the program transformed the Tigers’ fan base. According to Tennessee State, attendance raised each year he was there, going from 12th in the OVC at 1,337 per game in 2014-15 to third in the league at 2,627 fans per game in 2016-17.
Missouri State athletic director Kyle Moats said, during the press conference where Lusk was fired, that hiring someone who would rejuvenate the fan base and bring attendance up was important. After averaging 7,595 fans per game in 2011, the Bears brought in just 4,518 fans per game in 2017-18.
Ford was an assistant coach at Tennessee State from 2009-11, before landing on Gregg Marshall’s staff at Wichita State. The Shockers went 27-6 and won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship during the 2011-12 season.
The MVC ties don’t stop there. Ford graduated from Illinois State in 2006, after playing four seasons for the Redbirds under current Loyola head coach Porter Moser. Ford returned to Illinois State to serve as head coach Dan Muller’s associate head coach from 2012-14.
Ford becomes the 18th head coach in program history and is now tasked with bringing the Bears back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time 1999.
This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Missouri State picks Dana Ford as next men's basketball coach."