Gene A. "Geno" Ford (born October 11, 1974) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and former college and professional basketball player. He is currently the men's head coach for the

Stony Brook Seawolves The Stony Brook Seawolves are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Stony Brook University (SBU) in Stony Brook, New York. The Seawolves play as members of the Coastal Athletic Association (formerly known as the Colonial Athletic As ...

, a position he has held since 2019. He was previously the head coach at

Shawnee State University Shawnee State University (SSU) is a public university in Portsmouth, Ohio, United States, established in 1986. It is the southernmost member of the University System of Ohio. History Although its roots date back to 1945 when Ohio University est ...

Muskingum University Muskingum University is a private university in New Concord, Ohio, United States. Chartered in 1837 as Muskingum College, the institution is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). New Concord is located in far eastern Muskingum County, ...

(then Muskingum College),

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

(2008–2011) and

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

(2011–2015). Ford was an assistant coach at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, Kent State and Stony Brook. He was promoted to head coach at Stony Brook after serving on

Jeff Boals Jeff Boals (born September 5, 1972) is the head coach of the Ohio Bobcats men's basketball team. Boals spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team under the tutelage of Thad Matta. In his first head c ...

' staff for three seasons. Before turning to coaching, Ford was a prolific scorer in high school and in college at

. He graduated with the second-most points scored in Ohio high school basketball and the fourth-most points for the

Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, United States. Ohio University is a charter member (1946 ...

Playing career

High school

Ford was a high school standout at Cambridge High School in

Cambridge, Ohio Cambridge ( ) is a city in Guernsey County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 10,089 at the 2020 census. It lies in the Appalachian Plateau of the Appalachian Mountains in southeastern Ohio. It is the principal city o ...

, playing for his father, Gene Ford. In 1993, after his senior season, he was named Ohio Mr. Basketball by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

. Ford scored 2,680 points in high school, second-most in history at the time of his graduation and currently the fourth-most behind

Jon Diebler Jon Keith Diebler (born June 22, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player who is the director of recruiting for the Butler Bulldogs of the Big East Conference. He played four seasons of college basketball for the Ohio State Bu ...

(3,208 points),

Luke Kennard Luke Douglas Kennard ( ; born June 24, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils and was drafted by the Detro ...

(2,977 points) and

Jay Burson Jay Burson is a former a college basketball player at Ohio State University and former player in the Continental Basketball Association. Basketball career High school Burson attended John Glenn High School in New Concord, Ohio from 1981-85. Duri ...

(2,958), but higher than

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

(2,646). 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. 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. In 2004, Ford was named to the

Ohio Valley Athletic Conference The Ohio Valley Athletic Conference is a high school sports league in parts of southeastern Ohio and northern West Virginia. The OVAC is the largest conference of its kind in the United States. Schools in the upper Ohio Valley supply over 18,000 ...

Hall of Fame.

College

Ford played at

as a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

from 1993 to 1997, wearing No. 12. In four seasons with the Bobcats, Ford averaged 14.2 points per game on 41.4 percent shooting. 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. Ford was named to the All-MAC Second Team in 1996 and the All-MAC First Team in 1997. Ford scored 1,752 points in college, graduating as the fourth-highest scorer of all time in Ohio Bobcats program history. He currently stands at sixth. 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. 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.

Coaching career

Ford began his coaching career in 1998 as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

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 James Patrick Christian (born February 6, 1965) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Canisius Golden Griffins. He previously served as the head coach at Boston College, Kent State, TCU and Ohio. Playing career ...

, where he coached for three seasons. In 2005, Ford was hired as head coach at Muskingum College, now

, of the

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

, where he coached for two seasons before returning to Kent State as an assistant.

Kent State

Ford was promoted to head coach at Kent State in 2008 following Christian's departure to

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

, and coached the Golden Flashes for three seasons. At Kent State, Ford led the team to consecutive

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

regular season titles in 2010 and 2011, winning

MAC Mac or MAC may refer to: Common meanings * Mac (computer), a line of personal computers made by Apple Inc. * Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth * Mac, a prefix to surnames derived from Gaelic languages * McIntosh (apple), a Canadi ...

Coach of the Year both years. His teams at Kent State advanced to the postseason in each of his three seasons, playing in the 2009 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2011 National Invitation Tournament The 2011 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2011 NCAA tournament. The 74th annual tournament began March 15 on campus sites ended on March ...

s. He finished with a record of 68–37 at Kent State, including 35–17 in MAC play. After the 2009–10 season, Kent State reached a five-year extension with Ford that increased his salary to $300,000 per year, making him the highest-paid basketball coach in the MAC.

Bradley

Ford left Kent State one year into the extension to become the head coach at

, where his salary increased to $700,000. Ford's teams at Bradley never finished above 7th in the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(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.

Contract breach lawsuit

Kent State sued Ford for breach of contract in 2011, claiming that Ford owed Kent State the sum of his salary over the four remaining years, worth $1.2 million, as a buyout agreed to in his contract. Kent State rejected Bradley's offer of a single $400,000 payment and won the lawsuit in 2013, forcing Ford to pay his former employer $1.2 million. In 2015, Kent State filed a new lawsuit against Ford and Bradley for tortious interference of contract, indemnification, third-party beneficiary contract, fraudulent transfer and civil conspiracy.

Stony Brook

Following a year off as a college basketball analyst for

ESPN3 ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...

, Ford was hired in 2016 as an assistant for Stony Brook under head coach and his former Ohio teammate

. 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. 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. Ford's contract is for five years, running through the 2023–24 season, with the ability to negotiate an extension after the 2021–22 season. 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. 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. Ford's second season at head coach saw Stony Brook finish 9–14, the program's worst record in 13 years. Ford won his 200th game as a head coach on December 14, 2021 against Central Connecticut. In Ford's fourth season, Stony Brook moved from the America East to the

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

, but the Seawolves suffered multiple season-ending injuries and finished 11–22 to tie for ninth. On February 7, 2024, Ford was extended for two more years through the 2025–26 season. In March 2024, as the seventh seed in the CAA tournament, Stony Brook advanced to face top-seed Charleston in the championship game by upsetting two-seed Drexel, 91–88 (2OT) in the quarterfinals and three-seed

Hofstra Hofstra University is a private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, including the Zucker Scho ...

, 63–58 in the semifinals. Stony Brook led Charleston 40–35 at the half and held Charleston scoreless in the final five minutes of regulation, scoring nine straight points to tie the game at 73 and go into overtime, where the Seawolves ultimately lost 82–79. Stony Brook was the first seven seed to advance to the CAA Finals since

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Head coaching record

*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).

Personal life

Ford is married to his wife, Traci. He has two sons: Darin and David. His son, Darin, is the head coach at Nordonia High School in Ohio. Meanwhile, his younger son, David, served as director of player development under Ford at Stony Brook during the 2021–22 and 2022-2023 seasons. Ford's brother, Dustin, is the associate head coach at Akron and also played for Ohio from 1998 to 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Geno 1974 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio Bradley Braves men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Guards (basketball) Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball coaches Muskingum Fighting Muskies men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball coaches Ohio Bobcats men's basketball players People from Cambridge, Ohio Place of birth missing (living people) Stony Brook Seawolves men's basketball coaches 20th-century American sportsmen