Dana Ford

Teams coached: Tennessee State Tigers, Missouri State Bears
Tennessee State record: 57-65 (.467)
Missouri State record: 106-82 (.564)
Overall record: 163-147 (.526)

Dana Ford
Born June 9, 1984
Hometown: Tamms, Illinois
Alma Mater: Illinois State University (BS, 2006)
Played for Tom Richardson and Porter Moser at Illinois State after a stellar career at Egyptian Senior High School in Tamms, IL
Spent two years as a grad assistant at Winthrop under Gregg Marshall and Randy Peele
- Peele would later serve as one of Ford’s assistants during his tenure as head coach at TSU
After one year as an assistant at Chipola College (FL), Ford joined John Cooper‘s staff at Tennessee State as an assistant
Spent one year as an assistant under Marshall at Wichita State and three at Illinois State, one under Tim Jankovich and two under Dan Muller
Became the TSU head coach in 2014; the Tigers won just 5 games in the season before Ford’s arrival, then did the same under Ford in 2014-15
- Ford was able to quickly turn the program around, improving from 5 wins to 20 wins and a CIT berth in 2016
- As a result of his success, Ford was awarded the Ohio Valley Coach of the Year award and was honored with the 2016 Ben Jobe Award, recognizing the nation’s top minority head coach in Division I
Hired in March 2018 to be the new head coach of the Missouri State Bears
- Went 106-82 in six seasons at the helm, including a 23-11 record and NIT bid in 2021-22; fired in March 2024