I’m going to try to write about Mizzou and Billikens basketball without making one of the two fan bases — or both — go bananas.
Wish me luck.
The Mizzou job is open.
SLU coach Travis Ford is a former Mizzou player who has recruited St. Louis well while turning the Billikens into a top-five team in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Post-Dispatch teammate Dave Matter has reported Ford has advocates among Mizzou’s donor base and in the St. Louis AAU scene who are pushing for Ford to be considered in CoMo.
Before offering an opinion, I wanted to give Ford a chance to share his.
Here’s what he said Monday afternoon, when asked what he thought about his name percolating in the Mizzou chatter.
“I haven’t been on Twitter,” Ford, 52, said before the Billikens practiced at Chaifetz Arena in preparation of their NIT game against Northern Iowa.
“I don’t get on all that stuff,” he continued. “I don’t pay any attention to it. People who know me and are around me, I am immersed in figuring this (game) out. We were here until late last night. We were here early this morning. We are trying to figure out how to beat Northern Iowa. That’s a tough, tall, tall task. I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”
Ford was asked if he hears the speculation.
“I get phone calls from people,” he said. “I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”
Ford had a chance to shut the whole thing down. He didn’t.
Smart coaches don’t turn down jobs they have not been offered. Ford is not a rookie at this stuff. And neither is his boss, SLU athletics director Chris May, who would much rather have a coach whose name comes up in conversations about SEC openings than the alternative.
“I’m expecting you to make this call for the next 10 years,” May said Monday by phone.
Translation: May feels good about the direction SLU is moving with Ford at the helm. It should be noted where May was when we talked. He was at Northwestern University, meeting with football coach Pat Fitzgerald and other athletics department officials while doing research for the planning of the O’Loughlin Family Champions Center, which will help bolster Ford’s already strong recruiting. May is determined to make SLU a basketball power. Ford is a part of that plan.
So, that’s what we know at the moment.
Now, here’s what I think.
— Ford and the Billikens are better off together at this time. May is determined to continue to improve SLU hoops. Boosters are engaged and on the same page. There is good synergy in Midtown. Ford has a .596 winning percentage, five consecutive winning seasons and has been on an 83-39 run since 2018.
He’s rewarded SLU, and SLU has made him a highly paid A-10 coach with plenty of security because of it. But Ford also has benefited from SLU’s patience. He went to five NCAA Tournaments in eight seasons at Oklahoma State. He got shoved out of Stillwater because he could not get past the second round. Oklahoma State has been to two NCAA Tournaments in the six seasons since, and the Cowboys never have been out of the second round. Funny how that happens, right?
Meanwhile Ford has made just one NCAA Tournament in six SLU seasons, and the Billikens lost that first game back in 2019 after running the table at the A-10 conference tournament. Ford is 0-9 against Top-25 teams at SLU. He’s lifted SLU’s floor a great deal, but a hard ceiling remains intact.
That should change next season, with the talent SLU should have back. Especially if the Billikens can find a way — perhaps through a lucrative name, image and likeness deal — to get Javonte Perkins back for one more season with a squad that won 23 games (before the NIT) in his absence post injury.
— Mizzou would be better off focusing elsewhere.
Does that mean the Tigers will land a better coach than Ford? No guarantees. If Ford was not coaching at SLU, more Mizzou types might like the look of his body of work. In the past 17 seasons between UMass, OSU and SLU, he has 107 more wins than losses, 10 20-win seasons, six NCAA Tournament appearances, an A-10 regular-season championship (UMass) and an A-10 conference tournament title (SLU).
But while Ford’s impressive recruiting and proven track record of winning everywhere he has been since Eastern Kentucky would be selling points, he carries some baggage and lacks some SEC sizzle. Fired Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin was hired one season after Ford. Martin went to two NCAA Tournaments to Ford’s one. That’s a hard fact to explain away, even as Ford out-recruited Martin.
Yes, Ford’s teams encountered some unfair turbulence because of the pandemic and injuries. So did Martin’s. Some of the old-school Mizzou types still hold it against Ford that he transferred from Mizzou to Kentucky as a player.
Much more relevant is Ford’s 63-75 Big 12 regular-season record while at OSU, and his 1-7 career record in NCAA Tournament games. If the Billikens were preparing to start the NCAA Tournament instead of the NIT, the conversation about Ford as a potential Mizzou candidate could have a different tone. But timing matters.
— One last thought.
Unless Ford desperately wants the Mizzou job and is convinced he can get it, he should stay far away from this conversation. Mizzou types arguing about whether Ford should be considered is one thing. A Billikens coach flirting with the Tigers would be another. A wandering eye could do damage to the good thing SLU has going.
SLU fans are patient, but they’re ready to see Ford break through. They appreciate the floor, but want to raise the roof. If Ford can do that, he will become a bigger target for Power 5 jobs. Then again, he will have turned his current job into a better one.
Turning the job you have into the one you want, if you can, almost is always the best way to go.
