Point guards rule
Played point guard at a tradition-rich power. Made the Final Four. Son of a fairly prominent basketball man, at least regionally. Grew up in a basketball-crazy state. Got a college head coaching job in his 20s. Did a decent job — not spectacular — at a solid mid-major and it earned him a ticket to the Big 12, our state in particular.
Travis Ford? Yes. Jeff Capel? Yes.
Amazing similarities between the hires at Oklahoma State this week and Oklahoma two Aprils ago.
Ford was the Kentucky point guard in 1993, when the Wildcats made the Final Four and lost to Michigan’s Fab Five when they were sophomores. His dad is Eddie Ford, who runs Kentucky HoopFest, a huge summer tournament in Louisville that is really unlike anything we’ve got here. Kentucky, remember, is basketball country. Ford became a head coach at Campbellsville, an NAIA school in Kentucky, at the age of 28. He grew up in Kentucky bluegrass. He has coached in only one NCAA Tournament game but has Massachusetts up and running on its way back to being a player in the solid Atlantic 10 Conference.
Capel was the Duke point guard in 1994, when the Blue Devils lost the NCAA title game to Arkansas on that great shot by Scotty Thurman. His dad is Jeff Capel II, former head coach at Old Dominion and North Carolina A&T. Capel III became the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth at the age of 27. He grew up on Carolina’s Tobacco Road. Capel had coached in only one NCAA Tournament game but had VCU on solid footing in the underrated Colonial Athletic Conference.
Interesting likenesses. Of course, if you want more, here’s another comparison model. Travis Ford and Sean Sutton, the guy Ford replaces today as OSU’s basketball coach.
Both went to high school in Kentucky. Both have dads named Eddie of varying degrees of popularity in the state — Eddie Ford apparently is known as a bit of an operator around the AAU circuit; Eddie Sutton was the fall guy of the Kentucky U. scandals of the 1980s. Both played point guard at Kentucky. Both rank among the best 3-point shooters in Kentucky history. Both transferred to or from a Big Eight school (Ford from Missouri, Sutton to OSU). Both became OSU’s head coach in their 30s (Ford is 38, Sutton was 37). Both played for coaches who finished with more than 700 wins (Norm Stewart won 738, Eddie Sutton won 804).
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