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NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Vols with head coaching hires from the year 2005

By Joey Loose

EVANSTON, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 01: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts during the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena on February 01, 2020 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS - FEBRUARY 01: Head coach Matt Painter of the Purdue Boilermakers reacts during the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena on February 01, 2020 in Evanston, Illinois. (Photo by Quinn Harris/Getty Images) /
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NCAA Basketball Travis Ford of the Saint Louis Billikens (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
NCAA Basketball Travis Ford of the Saint Louis Billikens (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

10. Travis Ford (Massachusetts)

Fresh off that Final Four in 1996, John Calipari moved on from UMass, but these Minutemen were not quite ready for him to leave the program. The nine years since had seen the program revert back to insignificance, flailing in the A-10 at the start of the century. Another head coaching search was on in 2005 and a solid young head coach was brought in to get things on track.

Travis Ford starred at point guard at Kentucky in the early 90’s before beginning his coaching career a few years later. He built quick success at Campbellsville, an NAIA school, before spending five years leading Eastern Kentucky. He had taken the Colonels to the NCAA Tournament in 2005 and had slowly built them back into a solid program.

Now Ford didn’t exactly move mountains as Calipari had done, but he certainly got the Minutemen back on the right track. There wasn’t an NCAA Tournament appearance during his three-year stint at UMass, but Ford’s last two seasons were 24+ win seasons with NIT appearances. He departed for Oklahoma State, getting his chance to run a power conference program while leaving UMass in pretty solid shape for the future.

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