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He Called Me What?
Published: 2/16/2009 4:42 PM
Last Modified: 2/16/2009 4:42 PM

Someone called Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford a horrible four-letter word.
The word? Soft.
Ford, a former Massachusetts coach, said ex-UMass player Gary Forbes visited recently. Forbes accused Ford of going soft.
That had to sting, didn't it?
"It made think," Ford said. "Hmmm. You start reflecting a little bit and things like that. But it didn’t sting, really."
Regardless, Ford has been anti-soft since OSU had a no-show performance at Texas, when the Cowboys were handed a 25-point defeat.
Ford has staged closed practices since so he could -- his words -- get back to being himself.
After the first post-Texas practice, players were hobbling out of the arena.
"It was tough," said Terrel Harris, who helped the Cowboys bounce back for a lopsided victory Saturday over Iowa State. "But these are the kind of results you get when you work hard."
Let's see if a hard-line approach will help the Cowboys resurrect their season. At 4-6 in Big 12 play, they likely need to win five of six remaining regular season games just to be somewhere near the NCAA Tournament bubble.







Reader Comments 1 Total
stugraham (4 years ago)
Travis Ford...soft, who cares! One thing for sure unless he changes, no one is going to call him soft spoken.

It is much more important that the players not be called soft, than the coach. Judging by their performance, they might play physically tough, or even a little rough in my estimation. Mentally they are not there. Whether that is just a new coach, new scheme, young talent, or not matching up well remains to be seen.

Paige is a Ford-reincarnate, and entertaining to watch.

The team has won most of the games they should have, and lost most of the ones they should have too. Beating Iowa State, at home, should not be an excuse to hitch up the wagon. Much like Tulsa, OSU has seen better days in basketball. Much like Tulsa, fans can live in the past, but need some success at present to cause them to support.

Soft is a coin phrase in basketball for weak, inept, and lack of tenacity. Teams that win a lot are rarely accused of being soft. So if Ford wants to lose the moniker, he better find a team to put on the floor that can win a game it shouldn't.
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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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