Oklahoma State introduces Ford as coach

Apr 17, 2008 - 11:01 PM AMHERST, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Oklahoma State officially introduced Travis Ford as its next men's basketball coach on Thursday.

Ford became the 18th coach for Cowboys, replacing Sean Sutton, who was forced to resign earlier this month.

The 38-year-old Ford comes to Oklahoma State just over a week after announcing that he was going to stay at Massachusetts, turning down potential job offers at Providence and Louisiana State.

"It's an exciting day," Ford said. "It's a very exciting day for me and my family to be a part of such a great university. The Oklahoma State basketball program is a program I've always followed. A program that you see on TV a lot and I always used to watch the games on TV and say, 'What an incredible basketball program. What an incredible arena and great fans.'"

Ford takes over a Cowboys team that had gone 39-29 over the past two seasons, but failed to reach the NCAA Tournament.

A former player under Rick Pitino at Kentucky, Ford also could not get Massachusetts in the NCAAs in his three seasons there, compiling a 62-35 record. The Minutemen did appear in the NIT the last two seasons, reaching the championship game against Ohio State earlier this month.

Still, Ford has bigger goals than just getting Oklahoma State back to the NCAA Tournament.

"The foundation that the Sutton family has put on this program, I want to build on that," Ford said. "They are a great basketball family and great people. I just want to continue to grow on that foundation that they have stamped on this program.

"My goal is to take this Oklahoma State basketball program to a national championship and that's why I'm here and that's what I look forward to doing."

Oklahoma State had initially pursued Kansas coach Bill Self, who reportedly turned down a lucrative offer to return to his alma mater three days after leading the Jayhawks to the national championship on April 7.