Dana Ford is in his third season at SMU following 10 seasons as a head coach, including the previous six years leading Missouri State.
SMU was 20-14 this past season, earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 2017. The Mustangs are 44-25 in his first two seasons, including a 21-17 ACC record.Â
In 2025-26, the Mustangs recorded a pair of top-25 wins for the first time in six seasons and were ranked in the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time in nine seasons. SMU tied for the most All-ACC honorees with three and finished in the top-30 nationally in scoring, assists, field-goal percentage and three-point percentage.
In his first season on the Hilltop, the Mustangs went 24-11 and earned a No. 1 seed in the NIT. The Mustangs were one of just two teams in the nation with six players averaging at least 9.9 points and one of just eight teams in the NCAA top 50 for field goal percentage and field goal defense. SMU signed the nation’s fourth-ranked high school recruiting class, which is the best in program history.
Ford is a three-time finalist and the 2015-16 winner of the Ben Jobe Award, which is presented annually to the top minority head coach in division I college basketball. His head coaching honors include being a finalist for the 2020-21 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award and being named the 2015-16 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and NABC District 19 Coach of the Year. In 2022-23, his Missouri State team earned an NABC Team Academic Excellence Award.
His teams have a 163-147 record in his head coaching tenure. At Missouri State, the Bears went 106-82 (64-48, .571 Missouri Valley) including a 23-win campaign and NIT bid in 2021-22. MSU totaled 10 All-MVC honors, including multiple selections four times. He went to Springfield after four years leading Tennessee State. The Tigers were 52-39 over his final three seasons, accumulating five All-OVC honors. In his second season at TSU, the Tigers recorded the largest turnaround in the nation by going 20-11 after a 5-win inaugural campaign.
Before becoming a head coach, he had assistant coaching stints at Winthrop (GA 2006-07) and Wichita State (GA 2007-08, assistant 2011-12) under coach Gregg Marshall and later as associate head coach at Illinois State (2012-14) under coach Dan Muller. His coaching resume also includes assistant coaching stops at Chipola (Fla.) College (2008-09) and Tennessee State (2009-11). He was an assistant for two NCAA Tournament teams at Winthrop (2007) and Wichita State (2012) as well as a NJCAA national final four run at Chipola (2009). Ford was responsible for recruiting future NBA talents such as Robert Covington and Fred Van Vleet.
A native of Tamms, Ill., Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State University where he was a four-year letterman for the Redbirds from 2002-06. As a senior, he was a regular starter and led ISU in steals.
Dana and his wife Christina have three daughters, Charlie Rose, Cline and Courtney, and three sons, Carson, Cameron and Crain. They are also the parents of another daughter, Promise, who passed in infancy in 2017.
The Fords are also the founders of the Rebound Foundation which raises funds and awareness to help renew and restore women who have experienced a life of domestic abuse. The foundation provides a stable home and fresh start to abuse victims and their children. The Rebound Foundation currently provides homes in Springfield, Mo., and Chicago, Ill.
Updated: April 30, 2026
