NCAA Basketball: Hot Seat Head Coaches in Mid-December of 2023-24 season

Travis Ford – Saint Louis Billikens

After playing success at Missouri and Kentucky, Ford has been a collegiate head coach for his entire coaching career, with stints at Campbellsville, Eastern Kentucky, UMass, and Oklahoma State. The Cowboys fired him after eight seasons back in 2016 and he landed on his feet at Saint Louis not long after. The Billikens themselves need a recharge after a few rough seasons and he’s now in his eighth season there.

The Billikens haven’t been bad over these last eight years, but have been a bit underwhelming at times. They won the A-10 Tournament back in 2019, though that remains Ford’s lone trip to the Big Dance with the Billikens. This program has won at least 21 games in four of the last five seasons, but these last few weeks have cast Ford’s future in serious doubt. After a 4-0 start to the season, the Billikens have dropped five of their last seven, including an abhorrent performance against Southern Illinois in early December.

Saint Louis’s defense has been atrocious at times this season and this doesn’t look like a potential contender in this A-10. There are still weeks ahead where fortune could change for the Billikens, but it looks like another underwhelming performance. Those coming weeks and months could loom large for Ford’s future prospects, but it’s hard to imagine Saint Louis will be too patient with him after eight seasons and limited postseason success.