Ford worked his way up the coaching ladder

Then he became a Kentucky hoops legend. A 5-foot-9 sharpshooter who in a UK Final Four season made more than 50 percent of his 3-pointers and 88 percent of his foul shots, a point guard who is No. 2 on the Kentucky single-season assist list.

That kind of ballplaying is appreciated in most ports. In a hoops haven like Kentucky, that kind of ballplaying is revered.

So when Ford, at the age of 26, decided to try coaching, he didn't have to start out coaching high school JV in Bowling Green. He spent a year just watching Rick Pitino at Kentucky, then got a college head-coaching job without ever spending a minute as an assistant.

But here's why I like Oklahoma State's hiring of Ford to be sheriff of Gallagher-Iba Arena: He had a big name, entered the profession with silver sneakers on his feet, and still he worked his way up.

Campbellsville University, an NAIA school of little more than 2,000 students. Eastern Kentucky, which hadn't sniffed hardwood success since the 1970s. And finally Massachusetts, which was a force when John Calipari coached the Minutemen but at no other time.

UMass can rate as big time, but at Campbellsville and Eastern Kentucky, you ride a lot of buses to Pikeville, Ky.

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