After dalliances with LSU and Providence, Travis Ford (UMass) pulled the trigger today by accepting the Oklahoma State head coaching position. His run at UMass combined with the rebuffs by Bill Self and Billy Gillespie led Mike Holder (Cowboy AD) to hire Ford.
On the surface it is a strange hire. Ford’s run at UMass only got his team into the NIT which is something that the fired Sean Sutton did. Also, his ties are to the East Coast and a more sensible hire would have been Chris Lowery from S. Illinois or even Tim Jankovich (Illinois State), who know the Big 12 and led the Redbirds to the NCAA tournament this year. Just another bizarre hire this year. Not quite as much of a reach as Craig Robinson at Oregon State or Rex Walters at San Francisco.
Providence nabs Keno Davis. One and done is not only for players. Drake head coach Keno Davis took the Providence job after a once and a lifetime year this past season. Time will tell if he is a “one hit wonder.”
This new round of hirings means there are only three sizable jobs still open. Drake could bump up the other Davis assistant (Chris). Stanford is looking for the right fit and UMass could go after Fran McCaffrey, who led Siena to the NCAA tournament this year. McCaffrey would be a great choice seeing he is the only coach to take three different non-bcs schools to the big dance.
