Why was Travis Ford fired? Looking at potential reasons behind St. Louis HC's dismissal

Following St. Louis's 83-73 loss to Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 tournament, reports suggest that coach Travis Ford was fired on Wednesday night. This has been widely expected after an abysmal season for the Billikens (13-19).

Ford joined St. Louis University in 2016. At the time of publishing this news, there had been no official announcement from the school.

Why was Travis Ford fired?

One of the main reasons behind Ford's dismissal is expected to be a poor record this season. In his eight seasons with the Billikens, Travis Ford has guided SLU to one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019, when they also won the A-10 conference championship. The team lost 66-52 to Virginia Tech in the first round of the big dance.

While SLU did perform better in the next four seasons, going 23-8, 14-7, 23-12 and 21-12, it has not been able to repeat the success from 2019. Billikens' Athletics director Chris May said earlier this week:

“Clearly our goals and expectations are to play in the NCAA Tournament and make a run, and this season has not gone by anybody’s expectations. There are a lot of positives programmatically, but this is a results-oriented business. We need to have success, and the goals haven’t been met this year.”

Woes with injured players, and transfers who didn't meet NCAA eligibility aside, the Billikens also noticed a decrease in fan support owing to their abysmal season.

It is reported that the attendance numbers went down by about 1,000 fans per game this season. May has said previously that it was the single-game ticket sales that went down this year, not the season tickets.

“When you have a season like this, it’s always a challenge with motivating and encouraging the fan base. Fortunately, we have an unbelievably strong foundation where fans have been very good," May said

"But to go through a season like this is a challenge for everybody," May added. "Student excitement is challenged. So again, we have to focus on how we get back to competing for NCAA tournaments.”

Before joining St. Louis, Travis Ford coached for eight years at Oklahoma State and three at Massachusetts prior to that. The Kentucky Wildcats alum graduated college having set school records in single-game assists (15), single-season three-point field goals (101) and consecutive free throws made (50).

Travis Ford was named to the All-SEC team in his junior and senior years. In the 1993 NCAA tournament, he was recognized as the Southeast Region's Most Outstanding Player. As a coach, Travis has an overall record of 491–366.