Geno Ford

Gene A. "Geno" Ford[2] (born October 11, 1974) is an American college basketball coach and former basketball player who is currently the head coach of the Stony Brook Seawolves men's basketball team. He has previously served as head coach at Bradley University, Kent State University, Muskingum University (then Muskingum College), and Shawnee State University, and as an assistant at Ohio University and Kent State. Ford was a prolific scorer in high school and in college at Ohio before turning to coaching.

Geno Ford
Ford in 2019
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamStony Brook
ConferenceAmerica East
Record20–14
Annual salary$365,000[1]
Biographical details
Born (1974-10-11) October 11, 1974
Cambridge, Ohio
Playing career
1993–1997Ohio
1997–1998Leicester Riders
Position(s)Guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1998–2001Ohio (GA/assistant)
2001–2002Shawnee State
2002–2005Kent State (assistant)
2005–2007Muskingum
2007–2008Kent State (assistant)
2008–2011Kent State
2011–2015Bradley
2016–2019Stony Brook (assistant)
2019–presentStony Brook
Head coaching record
Overall185–169 (.523)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2× MAC regular season (2010, 2011)
Awards
2× MAC Coach of the Year (2010, 2011) & Ohio Mr. Basketball (1993)

Playing career

High school

Ford was a high school standout at Cambridge High School in Cambridge, Ohio, playing for his father, Gene Ford. In 1993, after his senior season, he was named Ohio's Mr. Basketball by the Associated Press.[3] Ford scored 2,680 points in high school, second-most in history at the time of his graduation[4] and currently the fourth-most behind Jon Diebler (3,208 points), Luke Kennard (2,977 points) and Jay Burson (2,958), but higher than LeBron James (2,646).[5] Ford still holds the record for most free throws made in a season (288) and most career free throws (697) in Ohio high school boys' basketball.[4] He was named to the All-Ohio Division II first team following both his junior and senior seasons and was also a two-time All-Eastern District Division II Player of the Year and two-time All-OVAC Class 4-A first team pick.[4] In 2004, Ford was named to the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame.[6]

College

Ford played at Ohio University as a guard from 1993 to 1997, wearing No. 12.[7] In four seasons with the Bobcats, Ford averaged 14.2 points per game on 41.4 percent shooting.[8] He led the Bobcats in scoring in both his junior and senior seasons, averaging 18.9 points per game in 1995–96 and 18.7 in 1996–97.[9] Ford was named to the All-MAC Second Team in 1996 and the All-MAC First Team in 1997.[9]

Ford scored 1,752 points in college, graduating as the fourth-highest scorer of all time in Ohio Bobcats program history.[9] He currently stands at sixth.[9] Ford started 113 games, breaking the program record at the time (currently fifth), while he also still ranks in the top 10 for three-pointers made and free throws made.[9] Ford currently holds the program record for most free throws made in a single game (19) on February 2, 1997, breaking the old record (17) which had stood for 42 years.[9]

Coaching career

Ford began his coaching career in 1998 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Ohio University, and then promoted to a full-time assistant coaching position the next season, before becoming head coach at Shawnee State University of the NAIA in 2001. After one season at Shawnee State, he was hired as an assistant at Kent State under Jim Christian, where he coached for three seasons. In 2005, Ford was hired as head coach at Muskingum College, now Muskingum University, of the NCAA Division III, where he coached for two seasons before returning to Kent State as an assistant.

Ford was promoted to head coach at Kent State in 2008 following Christian's departure to TCU, and coached the Golden Flashes for three seasons.[10] At Kent State, Ford led the team to consecutive Mid-American Conference regular season titles in 2010 and 2011, winning MAC Coach of the Year both years.[11][12] His teams at KSU advanced to the postseason in each of his three seasons, playing in the 2009 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and the 2010 and 2011 National Invitation Tournaments. He finished with a record of 68–37 at Kent State, including 35–17 in MAC play.

Following his success at Kent State, he was hired by Bradley University in 2011, where he coached four seasons. His teams at Bradley never finished above 7th in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), advancing to post-season play in the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. He was relieved of his duties at the conclusion of an injury-riddled 2014–15 season, where the Braves finished 9–24 overall and 3–15 in the MVC. Ford's record at Bradley was 46–86 overall and 19–53 in MVC play.

Following a year as a college basketball analyst for ESPN3, he was hired in 2016 as an assistant for Stony Brook under head coach and his former Ohio teammate Jeff Boals.[13] On March 17, 2019, Ford was named the interim head coach of Stony Brook after Boals resigned to accept the head coaching job at Ohio University.[14] Ford's interim tag was removed on March 26, when Stony Brook announced his promotion as the fourth head coach in the school's Division I era.[15] In Ford's first season, Stony Brook won 20 games for the eighth time in the last 11 seasons and finished in second place in the America East, their ninth top-2 finish over that time period.[16] After defeating Albany in the America East quarterfinals, Stony Brook was upset 64–56 at home by Hartford in the semifinals to end their season at 20–13.[17] Ford announced in a postgame interview following the loss to Hartford that the team will not accept a postseason tournament invite amid coronavirus concerns.

Personal life

Ford is married to his wife, Traci. He has two sons, Darin, a graduate assistant at the University of Akron, and David. Ford's brother, Dustin, is the Associate Head Coach at Akron and also played for Ohio, from 1998 to 2001.

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Shawnee State (American Mideast Conference) (2001–02)
2001–02 Shawnee State 22–1013–53rd
Shawnee State: 22–10 (.688)13–5 (.688)
Muskingum (Ohio Athletic Conference) (2005–07)
2005–06 Muskingum 17–912–63rd
2006–07 Muskingum 12–136–128th
Muskingum: 29–22 (.569)18–18 (.500)
Kent State (Mid-American Conference) (2008–2011)
2008–09 Kent State 19–1510–6T–3rd (East)CIT 1st Round
2009–10 Kent State 24–1013–31st (East)NIT 2nd Round
2010–11 Kent State 25–1212–41st (East)NIT Quarterfinals
Kent State: 68–37 (.637)35–13 (.729)
Bradley (Missouri Valley Conference) (2011–2015)
2011–12 Bradley 7–252–1610th
2012–13 Bradley 18–177–11T-7thCIT Quarterfinals
2013–14 Bradley 12–207–117th
2014–15 Bradley 9–243–1510th
Bradley: 46–86 (.348)19–53 (.264)
Stony Brook (America East) (2019–present)
2019 Stony Brook 0–1*CBI First Round*
2019–20 Stony Brook 20–1310–62nd
Stony Brook: 20–14 (.588)
Total:185–169 (.523)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

*Ford was named interim head coach on March 17, 2019, after Boals took the head coaching job at Ohio. In addition, Ford holds a 5-5 postseason record as a Division I head coach (3-2 NIT, 0-1 CBI, 2-2 CIT).

References
  1. https://www.midmajormadness.com/2019/11/4/20946421/ncaa-basketball-head-coach-contract-salary-database-mid-major-2019-20
  2. (PDF) https://law.marquette.edu/assets/sports-law/pdf/Ford1213.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Blue Lions post 22-3 record in 1993". highlandcountypress.com. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  4. "Ohio Valley Athletic Conference :: Hall of Fame :: Geno Ford". www.ovac.org. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  5. State Records : Boys Basketball
  6. "Geno Ford - Men's Basketball Coach". Bradley University Athletics. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  7. Head Coach Geno Ford - KentStateSports.com—Official Web Site of Kent State University Athletics
  8. "Geno Ford College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2020-01-20.
  9. (PDF) https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/j/e/iw50brddxqz96x/ohio_mbb_1920_records.pdf. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. Alexander, Elton (2008-04-02). "Kent State names Geno Ford men's basketball coach". www.cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer/Cleveland.com. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  11. "MAC Announces Player of the Year, Coach of the Year". MAC-Sports.com. Mid-American Conference. March 8, 2010. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2011.
  12. "MAC Announces Men's Basketball Player of the Year, Coach of the Year". MAC-Sports.com. Mid-American Conference. March 7, 2011. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  13. "Geno Ford joins Stony Brook coaching staff". The Daily Jeffersonian. June 6, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  14. Parkinson, Chris. "Jeff Boals resigns as Men's Basketball head coach, joins Ohio University". The Statesman. Retrieved 2019-03-20.
  15. "Source: SBU promoting Geno Ford to head coach". Newsday. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  16. Tam, Ethan (2020-03-05). "Despite loss at UMBC, Stony Brook clinches No. 2 seed in conference playoffs". The Statesman. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
  17. Tam, Ethan (2020-03-12). "Stony Brook eliminated after giving up late semifinal lead to Hartford". The Statesman. Retrieved 2020-03-30.
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