Travis Ford reportedly fired as St. Louis head basketball coach

Former Kentucky Wildcat Travis Ford is looking for a new job. Jon Rothstein reports St. Louis has parted ways with Ford after leading the Billikens for eight seasons.

The season ended for St. Louis on Wednesday at the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The No. 14 seed in the event picked up an opening round win over Rhode Island, then fell 83-73 to Duquesne. The Billikens finished with a 13-20 record and were just 5-13 in A-10 play.

Ford arrived with fanfare in St. Louis ahead of the 2016-17 season. He broke through in year three, winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament and guiding St. Louis to the Big Dance. It was the first of four 20-win seasons in five years. The Covid season was the only year they did not reach that milestone, finishing 14-7 and reaching as high as No. 22 in the AP poll.

In eight seasons at St. Louis he compiled a 146-108 record (.575).

Ford has been a head coach since 2000, starting his career at Eastern Kentucky. After taking the Colonels to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, he moved up to UMass and parlayed three successful seasons into a job at Oklahoma State. He took the Cowboys to five NCAA Tournaments in eight seasons and went 155-111.

An undersized guard from Madisonville, he transferred to Kentucky after a season at Missouri and became one of the greatest three-point shooters in school history. In 1993 he was the Region’s Most Outstanding Player, propelling Kentucky to its first Final Four appearance under Rick Pitino. That season he shot 52.8% from three, the second-best mark in school history, just slightly ahead of Reed Sheppard (52.59%). Ford won back-to-back SEC Tournament MVPs in 1993 and ’94.

One of Ford’s former Kentucky teammates is on his way to the NCAA Tournament. Mark Pope’s 20th-ranked BYU team handed UCF a loss this afternoon in the Big 12 Tournament. The Cougars are 22-9 in his fifth season in Provo.

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