Travis Ford

[KBaden145]

That's not exactly how the buy-out works. We won't owe him what he would have been paid had he stayed here the entire time. We'll owe him the contracted buy-out amount based on what was negotiated in the contract, which is rarely ever 100% of the money left in the contract.



It's usually a percentage of what's left in the contract and also based on why the buy-out is being triggered (leaving for another job vs. getting fired for poor performance vs. any other reasons).



My "in-the-know" person tells me that it would be in the neighborhood of $5-6 million if he's fired after this season. Nothing to sneeze at, obviously, but not 8 figures.







Despite your numbers being a bit off, I agree with this line of thinking.



Next year is bound to be worse than this year, and the fans that were previously somewhat divided on whether or not to get rid of Ford and now practically united in the idea that he needs to go.



Attendance for basketball will continue to plummet and I shudder to think what GIA might look like mid-season next year for a team at or below .500 overall record and a coach that nobody wants.

Jeff, I just have to say how refreshing it is to read what you have written recently about Ford. We went round and round about him awhile back. I, like many intelligent posters on this board, saw a problem with this coach and this basketball program and you did not. While the current state of affairs has occurred much quicker and is much deeper than I thought could happen in one season's time, this was bound to happen. As an OU fan, Id love to see him stay and harm the program more but, as a fan of great Bedlam basketball, they need to more swiftly and decisively to get a better coach in there ASAP, ideally Gregg Marshall, Glad you finally realized what has been apparent for a long time.


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[SoonerBounce13]

Lol and my comment was made before I saw that gundy cancelled the spring game


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[DenverSooner]

That's not exactly how the buy-out works. We won't owe him what he would have been paid had he stayed here the entire time. We'll owe him the contracted buy-out amount based on what was negotiated in the contract, which is rarely ever 100% of the money left in the contract.

It's usually a percentage of what's left in the contract and also based on why the buy-out is being triggered (leaving for another job vs. getting fired for poor performance vs. any other reasons).

My "in-the-know" person tells me that it would be in the neighborhood of $5-6 million if he's fired after this season. Nothing to sneeze at, obviously, but not 8 figures.



Despite your numbers being a bit off, I agree with this line of thinking.

Next year is bound to be worse than this year, and the fans that were previously somewhat divided on whether or not to get rid of Ford and now practically united in the idea that he needs to go.

Attendance for basketball will continue to plummet and I shudder to think what GIA might look like mid-season next year for a team at or below .500 overall record and a coach that nobody wants.

You fools should hire me. I will screw up your basketball program for a lot less than what you are paying Ford.

The really bad thing is that I believe Gundy has done a good job at OSU but they reward Ford with the huge extension. I am not sure if they ultimately gave Gundy a contract extension but I think he deserves it a lot more than Ford.

Ford took over a program with some tradition based on Iba and Sutton. Granted Sean Sutton didn't do a great job but Ford has not accomplished what Eddie Sutton accomplished and they toss him a huge contract. Gundy has done more than anyone in the history of the football program (I think).

 

[BigTime]

Lol at Ford on the mascot commercial . He is asking where's his mascot is on the ad - Travis, you are the mascot!

 

[oSuJeff97]

And competitveness isn't everything. OSU has had quite a bit of bad press lately.

I think you over-value the impact of "bad news" in the 24-hour news cycle. This isn't 1987.

On-field results have far more of an impact than so-called "bad news."

I think you guys should feel pretty lucky that the NCAA didn't do more investigating of the SI piece

Well, that kind of speaks to the validity of the "charges," doesn't it. The SI piece was quite simply a poorly investigated, poorly put together piece of junk. Pretty much everyone in the sports world recognized that. The piece was roundly criticized by other sports journalists and if you looked around lots of other teams' message boards at the time (I did), the most common opinion of fans was that the piece was junk. LandThieves and OUHoops notwithstanding, of course.

OSU is doing their due diligence in having an independent party investigating the claims, and I don't expect much to come out of it, other than possibly augmenting the academic advisory staff or something like that.

Jeff, I just have to say how refreshing it is to read what you have written recently about Ford. We went round and round about him awhile back. I, like many intelligent posters on this board, saw a problem with this coach and this basketball program and you did not.

Well, to be fair, I did not see "no problems." The player attrition was always a problem... in fact it was his biggest problem that kept him from maintaining any consistency in the program after Sutton's players left.

But my thought back then was that it was (seemingly) mostly due to that first recruiting class of his. It was a complete disaster and it set the program back a couple of years.

Since things seemed to stabilize after that, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt where others (including many OSU fans) weren't.

But the way he has handled things this year just sent me over the edge. Losing another star player to attrition, not getting any improvement out of Smart and seemingly unable to get him to do the things that are his strength and will help the team (driving into the lane vs. jacking 3s), and finally I think the thing that I think bothers me the most is how he's always seemingly wanting to play the victim.

"Yeah.. it's been tough without Cobbins... Yeah... it's been tough without Marcus... yeah it's been tough that we have to play walk-ons..."

I just hate that crap, and although I do think our remaining players are playing hard, that attitude has to filter down through the team.

When Cobbins went down, I adjusted my expectations for this season. I thought that we would probably end up losing in the first or second round of the tournament and was thinking that wouldn't be "bad enough" to get Ford fired. Now that it looks like we might actually only win one more game in conference play (TCU), I'm feeling much better about the notion that he might be gone, contract buy-out be damned.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Well, that kind of speaks to the validity of the "charges," doesn't it. The SI piece was quite simply a poorly investigated, poorly put together piece of junk. Pretty much everyone in the sports world recognized that. The piece was roundly criticized by other sports journalists and if you looked around lots of other teams' message boards at the time (I did), the most common opinion of fans was that the piece was junk. LandThieves and OUHoops notwithstanding, of course.

OSU is doing their due diligence in having an independent party investigating the claims, and I don't expect much to come out of it, other than possibly augmenting the academic advisory staff or something like that.

From what I saw from most other schools and osu fans was "Everybody does it not a big deal" Which is quite hilarious to me because it is implying that the report is true. it's a horrible defense.

 

[WaymanFan]

Jeff, thanks for sharing some of your thoughts on the state of the Pokes hoops program. I will say this about Coach Ford - his players have not quit on him. That was very evident the other night when Hammonds stole that inbounds pass and buried the three at the buzzer to send the game into OT. As long as the players have not quit, the season isn't over.

 

[badger]

I'm feeling much better about the notion that he might be gone, contract buy-out be damned

Is it really worth it if you don't have a better coach lined up to bring in after Travis? As a frequenter of opposing boards, I've seen your fellow Internet Pokes toss out pipe dreams like Bill Self, or outright wtf names like Bruce Pearl.

I'm not trying to twist a knife in an already crappy situation. I was really hoping that one of our teams (preferably ours) would end KU's dominance of the Big 12. Maybe one of us can end KU and the other UT in the Big 12 tournament (dibs on texas)

 

[oSuJeff97]

From what I saw from most other schools and osu fans was "Everybody does it not a big deal" Which is quite hilarious to me because it is implying that the report is true. it's a horrible defense.

I disagree a little bit.

I think that was somewhat the sentiment before the stuff was published.... before anybody knew what was going to be reported.

After people actually saw what was being reported, the sentiment was more, "WTF? They spent a year investigating and this is what they come up with?!"

The "sex on campus" piece was particularly laughable.

Jeff, thanks for sharing some of your thoughts on the state of the Pokes hoops program. I will say this about Coach Ford - his players have not quit on him. That was very evident the other night when Hammonds stole that inbounds pass and buried the three at the buzzer to send the game into OT. As long as the players have not quit, the season isn't over.

Ford's teams always play hard. I do give him that. You rarely ever see us doing what some of Drew's Baylor teams do, where they get down big and just give up.

Even in that Texas game the other night in Austin, when we were down by 20 with like 8 minutes left in the first half... the team bore down and played Texas even the rest of the way. Moral victory? Perhaps. But if the team stops playing at that point, we could have lost that game by 45 points.

So yeah, we certainly do play hard. The problem is we also play dumb. That probably is part of the reason why in 6 of the 7 games in this losing streak have been decided in the last 2 minutes... and we've lost every single one of them.

:facepalm

Is it really worth it if you don't have a better coach lined up to bring in after Travis? As a frequenter of opposing boards, I've seen your fellow Internet Pokes toss out pipe dreams like Bill Self, or outright wtf names like Bruce Pearl.

Bill Self is a pipe dream that is never going to happen, so it's stupid to even speculate.

Bruce Pearl would be an intriguing choice, but there's no way Holder would hire him. He won't hire anyone with "baggage." That's one reason why he didn't go after Billy Gillespie, which, in hindsight, was probably a good move.

The white whale, of course, is currently coaching a hour-and-a-half up the road in Wichita. I have no idea if Marshall would leave WSU for OSU, but if you're Mike Holder and you want our basketball program to become relevant again, you should go after him with the same vigor that almost lured Bill Self away from Kansas.

Barring that, I'm sure there are other good coaches out there who would be a better option than Travis Ford.

 

[jerry]

Just hope Tech gives him 8 in a row on Saturday.