The Oklahoma State Cowboys won their first three games this season, but from there things immediately went south. The team's best player, guard Phil Forte, went down with a season-ending elbow injury in that third game and things looked pretty bleak.
Oklahoma State ended up finishing the season with a record of 12-20, which included a 3-15 mark in the Big 12, good for ninth place out of 10 teams. As a result of how bad the season went for the Cowboys, head coach Travis Ford's future has come into question.
Over the weekend, reports surfaced that Ford and Oklahoma State were expected to "part ways" but since that report has come out it has been revealed that no decision has been made. Ford is expected to meet with athletic director Mike Holder at some point this week so they can make a final decision on what to do moving forward.
Before joining Oklahoma State in 2008, Ford was the head coach at Eastern Kentucky and UMass and he had modest success at both schools. In his eight years with Oklahoma State so far he has reached the NCAA tournament five times, but has only made it past the first round once. Under Ford, the Cowboys have never finished better than third in the Big 12 and over the past five years they have been going backwards as their record continues to get worse.
If Ford is let go he will leave with an overall record of 155-110 and a Big 12 record of 63-80, which is where he is likely hurt the most. The Big 12 is typically a strong conference, but the fact that Ford only had his team in the top half twice in eight years isn't a good look for him.
Ford does have a couple of things going for him as he sets to meet with Holder though. The first thing is that he is bringing in a pretty good recruiting class for next year that ranks 37th in the nation and fourth in the Big 12. The other thing he has going for him is his contract. After his first year in Stillwater, Ford signed a 10-year contract extension that still has three years and $7.2 million left on it. That contract includes a $10-million buyout, so while it seems like Ford may be as good as gone, there are a couple of things he has on his side ahead of the meeting.
