In his first day on job, Ford sends perfect message

By Berry Tramel

Published: April 18, 2008

STILLWATER — Travis Ford started talking about OSU basketball history, beginning with Hank Iba, of course, and then you wondered where he would go.

You hoped he would drift to Eddie Sutton, because there's no other place to go, and maybe if the new regime embraces the old, the wounds can start to heal.

And just like everything else Ford did Thursday, he aced the test.

"I'm a big believer in tradition,” Ford had said, no great surprise for a son of Kentucky. "I studied the game tremendously. It's special to me to be a part of the program that Coach Iba started. What he meant to not just Oklahoma State but to basketball.”

Ford soon enough will learn that it's "Mister” Iba to everyone around these parts, but never mind. The most important thing was coming next. Would Ford pull a Howard Schnellenberger — who when named football coach at Oklahoma lauded Bud Wilkinson but ignored Barry Switzer — and not duly honor those who made this job worth having in the first place?

No. OSU's new coach is too sharp for such a grievous error. His next words were the olive branch Cowboy basketball needed.

"The foundation the Sutton family has put on this program, I want to build on that,” Ford said. "A great, great basketball family and great people.”

Boy, did OSU need that. Needed two things, really: Mike Holder to hire a top-notch coach and for someone to reach out to the aggrieved Suttons, the closest thing this campus has to royalty.

Check and check.

"Great day to be a Cowboy,” Holder said Thursday in Gallagher-Iba Arena, and who could argue? Promise and optimism seemed to return to OSU hoops in the wake of Ford's introduction. Who knows how Ford will fare, but hope carried this day.

How different from the last time we all gathered in the O Club, 16 days earlier for the beheading of Sean Sutton, the crown prince turned endangered king.

"Tough day to be a Cowboy,” Holder said then, and again, no argument. Those who supported the House of Sutton were outraged, and those who supported a change were saddened.

But Thursday, it was easy to believe that OSU had entered a much-needed new day. Ford was everything you want in a basketball hire. Personable, determined, focused.

New blood can be a very good thing. Sometimes, a transfusion is just what an organization needs, and truth is, OSU hoops more than qualify.

It's politically prudent to talk up your new boss, and Cowboy players did just that. But their words had the ring of truth.

"I like it,” Terrel Harris said of the hire. "Seems really livelier. Nice atmosphere.”

Byron Eaton said, "He made a great impression on most of the guys. He said, ‘Guys, you're going to have fun.' I don't think the guys had fun last year.”

Harris gave Ford a 9 on a scale of 1-10 — didn't say who would be a 10 — and then said the most interesting thing all day.

"I remember when I first got here and we had Eddie Sutton,” Harris said. "Whenever he talked, people just listened.”

And with Ford?

"I don't know if it's strong voice or what it is, but when he talked, people listened,” Harris said. "My teammates were really interested and were really focused on everything he had to say. Every word.”

There is no doubt that Sean Sutton's authority had waned, and the return of authority will be a good thing for OSU. A very good thing.

But that doesn't mean the Sutton era — Eddie and Sean, no reason to differentiate — shouldn't be celebrated.

"I have a great admiration for the Sutton family,” Ford said. "I'd love for them to be involved. They've meant so much to this university.”

Involvement will take time, a long time, but this is a good first step.

Ford has a history with the Suttons. As a high school senior in Madisonville, Ky., in 1988-89, Ford was recruited by Sutton's Kentucky staff but wasn't offered a scholarship.

For good reason. Kentucky at that time had a roster loaded with point guards: freshmen Sean Woods and Richie Farmer, plus sophomore starter Sean Sutton. Woods and Farmer went on to become Kentucky stalwarts.

So Ford went to Missouri. When Eddie Sutton resigned a year later amid NCAA scandal and Sean transferred out, Kentucky found a scholarship for Ford.

Now, almost 20 years later, Ford again uproots his life to fill a void left by Sean.

Thursday, Ford kept talking about winning NCAA championships in Stillwater, which is what a coach is supposed to do.

And here's some historical bullets in his holster. The last two times a coach replaced the House of Sutton — Nolan Richardson at Arkansas and Rick Pitino at Kentucky — a Final Four came within five years and a national title within 10.

No one outside of Ford is predicting NCAA championships. But such optimism is possible because of the Suttons.

"One thing that attracted me is what they've done,” Ford said. "I want to continue to grow on that foundation.”

Swell of Ford to recognize that. Even sweller of him to say it on this great day to be a Cowboy.

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