Regents OK Ford's contract; He'll make $1.3 million a year
Regents OK Ford's contract; He'll make $1.3 million a year

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By Berry Tramel

Published: April 19, 2008

LANGSTON — Travis Ford says he hopes to be Oklahoma State's basketball coach for a very long time. Says he doesn't look to move on even to his alma, Kentucky, one of the elite programs in college hoops.

But Mike Holder hopes Kentucky eventually wants to hire Ford.

"That's a high-class problem to have,” said Oklahoma State's athletic director.

University regents Friday, meeting on the Langston University campus, approved a seven-year contract worth $1.3 million a season for Ford, a day after OSU introduced him as Sean Sutton's replacement. The contract includes a buyout for an undisclosed sum if Ford leaves for another job but is not particular to any school, Holder said. Including Kentucky.

"I love Kentucky,” said Ford, who grew up in Madisonville, Ky., and was a point guard on UK's Final Four team in 1993. "Kentucky is a very, very special place to me. That's my alma mater.

"But I look at this (OSU) as a place I can raise my family, a place I could be for a very, very, very long time.”

Some have said Ford and Arkansas coach John Pelphrey, another Kentucky basketball hero from the early 1990s, are in a race to be the next UK coach.

And if Kentucky ever wants Ford, it is because he has been successful at OSU.

Regents expressed delight with Holder's choice of Ford, and Ford is being well paid. His salary ranks third among Big 12 coaches, behind only Kansas' Bill Self, who last week turned down the OSU job and is expected to receive a huge raise to $3 million a year, and Texas' Rick Barnes, who makes more than $2 million a year.

Other Big 12 salaries include Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon, $1.2 million; Oklahoma's Jeff Capel, $1.05 million; Missouri's Mike Anderson, $850,000 plus incentives; Nebraska's Doc Sadler $800,000 plus incentives; Kansas State's Frank Martin, $760,000; Iowa State's Greg McDermott, $700,000; and Colorado's Jeff Bzdelik, $642,000.

The salary of Baylor's Scott Drew is not made public, and Texas Tech's contract with Pat Knight agrees to pay Knight in the median range of Big 12 salaries.

Ford said he is pleased with his pay.

"Absolutely,” Ford said. "I love what I do. I love coaching.”

Unlike many Division I coaches, Ford did not have an agent to negotiate his contract with OSU. He said he's sure there will be some improvements he asks for during the honeymoon period but called OSU's facilities "incredible.”

"The vision here is incredible,” Ford said. "I love to see all that new dirt and construction sites.”

Much of the athletic facility upgrades are funded by OSU benefactor Boone Pickens, and Ford said he spoke with Pickens for the first time on Thursday night.

"The one thing that most impressed me about him is he asked, ‘How's your son?'” Ford's 8-year-old son, Brooks, underwent a root canal earlier this week. "That impressed me more than anything, that he even knew and remembered.”

Related Topics: Basketball, Sports, College Basketball, College Athletics