After taking Stephen F. Austin to the Round of 32 for the second time in three seasons, Oklahoma State hired Brad Underwood to lead their program into the future of the Big 12 after dismissing Travis Ford officially just last weekend.
Underwood had spent three seasons with the Lumberjacks, coming over from Frank Martin’s staff at South Carolina. Previous to that, he had served as an assistant to both Martin and Bob Huggins at Kansas State.
Ford had been with the Cowboys for eight seasons, failing to reach a single Sweet 16 despite the talent that he was able to attract to Stillwater. Unlike Underwood, Ford had no previous experience in the Big 12 Conference. The program struggled to gain traction under Ford and after rumors surfaced following last season that the administration would part ways with him, Ford was ultimately brought back for his final, lame-duck season where the Cowboys limped to a 12-20 record, including a 3-15 mark in conference play, the worst such conference record since the 1984-1985 season.
Folks inside and outside the program are hoping to make OSU relevant once again in the NCAA Tournament, where they haven’t left the first weekend since 2005 and have done so just three times since their Final Four run in 1995.
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