In eight years as Saint Louis University's head men's basketball coach, Travis Ford has reinvigorated the program and reestablished its place on the national stage.
Hired in March 2016, Ford inherited a program that won 11 games in each of the two years prior. He proceeded to improve the Billikens' win total over the next four seasons.
Ford’s tenure at SLU has been highlighted by three postseason appearances. Saint Louis captured the 2019 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship in dramatic fashion in Brooklyn and went to the NCAA Tournament. In a 2020-21 season that was derailed by COVID-19, the Billikens still managed to be in the conversation on Selection Sunday and ultimately was awarded a No. 1 seed in the NIT. The Billikens again went to the NIT in 2021-22. SLU was positioned for another postseason bid in 2019-20, but the season was canceled in March as SLU was preparing for the A-10 Championship.
The 2023-24 season is Ford's eighth year at SLU and his 27th season overall as a head coach. He entered the 2023-24 campaign with a 133-89 record at SLU and a 469-355 record overall.
Ford’s 133 wins at SLU make him the third-winningest head coach in SLU men’s basketball history. He is one of just five other SLU head coaches who have a tenure lasting seven or more seasons at Saint Louis.
Ford has recruited and coached some of the top players in school history to SLU. Most notably, four-year starters Hasahn French and Jordan Goodwin were priority recruits early on in Ford’s tenure, and both panned out to be elite Billikens. Both are 1,000-point scorers and among the top five in school history in career rebounds. French is the all-time leader in blocked shots, while Goodwin has the school record in career steals. Yuri Collins, who like Goodwin is from the St. Louis area, holds every assists record in school history and led the NCAA in assists in back-to-back seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Last season, SLU registered a 21-12 record including impressive victories against Providence and Memphis. The Billikens earned a double-bye in the A-10 Men's Basketball Championship in Brooklyn after finishing tied for second in the league. SLU advanced to the A-10 semifinals for the fourth-straight A-10 tourney, the only A-10 squad to do so during that time period.
In 2021-22, the Billikens went 23-12, advanced to the A-10 semifinals, and made the NIT for a second consecutive year. The success came after the Billikens lost potential A-10 Player of the Year Javonte Perkins to an injury in the preseason.
The 2020-21 campaign saw the Billikens start the year 6-0 with marquee wins against the likes of LSU and NC State. SLU climbed into the AP Top 25, where it was ranked for four straight weeks, getting as high as No. 22. However, due to COVID-19, the Billikens where shut down for much of January. SLU still ended up getting the fourth-seed in the A-10 Tournament and advanced to the semifinals before falling to eventual champion St. Bonaventure.
Despite the long COVID-19 shutdown, the Billikens had a worthy resume but were the third team left out of the NCAA at-large selections. Subsequently, SLU was a No. 1 seed in the 2021 National Invitation Tournament, SLU’s second postseason appearance under Ford.
Ford had the Billikens playing some of the best basketball in the country in 2019-20, but COVID-19 again reared its ugly head and the season was cut short before what was going to be another postseason appearance for Ford and the program. SLU had posted five consecutive wins to close the regular season to snag the fourth seed in the 2019 Atlantic 10 Conference Championship. However, it was during a Thursday morning practice in Brooklyn as SLU was preparing for its A-10 Championship opener the next day that the team learned that the tournament, and season, would be canceled. Saint Louis concluded the year with a 23-8 record, which included a 12-6 ledger in A-10 games.
Also in 2019-20, Ford recorded his 400th career victory on Jan. 5 against UMass. He was one of 15 active Division I head coaches with 400 or more wins in 24 or fewer seasons as a head coach.
Ford guided Saint Louis to a magical year in 2018-19. SLU was picked to win the league, but the Billikens went through a tough stretch of losing five of six games at one point in the conference season. As the No. 6 seed in the 2019 A-10 Championship at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the Billikens registered four wins in four days to capture the A-10 title and the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament (Ford's seventh NCAA appearance as a head coach). It was a wild ride for the Billikens at the A-10 Championship, as they either trailed or was tied at halftime in all four of the games. Photos, videos and GIFs of Ford jumping onto the SLU dogpile after its victory in the title game against St. Bonaventure will live on in Billiken history for years to come.
Ford was introduced to the St. Louis community at his introductory press conference on March 31, 2016.
“First and foremost, my family and I are excited to be a part of the Billiken program,” Ford said at the time of his hire. “I look forward to working with Chris May and Dr. Pestello in making this one of the top programs in America. We are going to deliver a brand of basketball that is fun, exciting, aggressive and up-tempo – one that recruits will love playing and fans will love watching.
“St. Louis is a great sports city and my family and I are honored to become a part of it,” Ford continued. “We have a great setting to recruit to with a wonderful city, beautiful campus, terrific school and a first-class facility. I can’t wait to engage with the student body and the fans as we work together to build a brand that everyone will be excited about.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Travis and his family into the program,” SLU Director of Athletics
Chris May said at the time of Ford's hire. “Our vision for Billiken basketball is to be nationally competitive, and Travis shares in that vision. He has had success everywhere he has coached. Travis is an accomplished recruiter and program-builder and is highly respected throughout college basketball. We are excited about the future of our program with Travis as our head men’s basketball coach.”
“Our University strategic plan recognizes that our athletic programs increase SLU’s national visibility and institutional pride,” said SLU President
Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D., at the time of Ford's hire. “I am convinced that Coach Ford will bring the energy, experience, recruitment skills and coaching acumen needed to position our men’s basketball program among the best in the country. He is also a person who will engage our community, advance our mission and build our brand.”
In addition to his five years at SLU, Ford has had head-coaching stints at Oklahoma State (eight years, 2008-16), Massachusetts (three years, 2005-08), Eastern Kentucky (five years, 2000-05) and Campbellsville (1997-2000). Ford has led his team to the NCAA Tournament seven times. He has coached six players who have gone on to play in the NBA and eight who have been named a conference player of the year.
Ford came to SLU after eight seasons as head coach at Oklahoma State University, where he led the Cowboys to a 155-111 record and five NCAA Tournament appearances. He recruited three McDonald’s All-Americans to Stillwater during his tenure.
Ford is familiar with the Atlantic 10 Conference, having spent three years as head coach at the University of Massachusetts. He led the Minutemen to a pair of 20-win seasons in 2006-07 (A-10 regular-season co-champions, NIT second round) and 2007-08 (NIT finalist). UMass defeated Syracuse and Florida in the 2008 NIT quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
Over the span of five seasons at Eastern Kentucky, Ford engineered a turnaround that saw the Colonels post 22 victories his final year after they registered seven in each of his first two seasons. In 2004-05, EKU won the Ohio Valley Conference title to give the program its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 26 years.
Ford began his first foray into coaching in 1997 with a three-year stint at Campbellsville University, an NAIA school in Kentucky.
Ford played the majority of his collegiate career at the University of Kentucky, helping the Wildcats to NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his three seasons (1992, 1993, 1994). He was a junior on the 1993 Wildcat team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four. Ford transferred to Kentucky after one season (1989-90) at the University of Missouri.
Ford, is a native of Madisonville, Kentucky. He and his wife, Heather, have three children: Brooks, Kyleigh and Shane. Ford earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at the University of Kentucky in 1994.
