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Travis Ford is out as basketball coach at Oklahoma State

Travis Ford

Travis Ford

(Brody Schmidt / Associated Press)
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Oklahoma State and basketball Coach Travis Ford have agreed to “part ways,” Athletic Director Mike Holder announced Friday.

Ford, who in 2009 was given a contract extension through the 2018-19 season, had a 155-111 record in eight seasons but won just one NCAA tournament game. The team went 12-20 this season and 3-15 in the Big 12. Ford had great success as a recruiter, bringing in high-profile talent such as Marcus Smart, Markel Brown, Le’Bryan Nash and most recently point guard Jawun Evans, but could never approach the success of Eddie Sutton, who took the Cowboys to Final Fours in 1995 and 2004.

Wright State fires coach

Wright State fired coach Billy Donlon, a onetime Horizon League coach of the year who couldn’t lead the Raiders into the NCAA tournament during his six seasons. The Dayton, Ohio, school reached the conference’s tournament title game in three of the last four years but lost each time. The Raiders went 22-13 this season, the third time in four years that they won at least 20 games, before losing to Green Bay in the tournament championship game. The Raiders were 109-94 under Donlon, who was the conference’s coach of the year in 2013.

Wright State head coach Billy Donlon shouts to his team during the second half of a game against Oakland in the Horizon League tournament on March 7.

Wright State head coach Billy Donlon shouts to his team during the second half of a game against Oakland in the Horizon League tournament on March 7.

(Duane Burleson / AP)
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Delaware dismisses Ross

Delaware fired men’s basketball coach Monte Ross after the Blue Hens finished their second consecutive losing season with a 7-23 record. Acting Athletic Director Matthew Robinson said the university needs to start a new chapter with the men’s basketball program. The school said in a statement that once a new athletic director is named, it will undertake the search for a new coach. Ross had a 132-184 record in 10 seasons.

Etc.

Memphis Coach Josh Pastner is keeping his job even though the Tigers missed the NCAA tournament for a second straight season. University President David Rudd and Athletic Director Tom Bowen said in a statement the school will “make the necessary investments and changes” so it can “compete at the highest level” with Pastner, who is 167-73 with four NCAA bids in seven years. If Memphis fired him, he would be owed $10.6 million. . . . Illinois guard Kendrick Nunn pleaded not guilty to two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery a day after he was arrested following a dispute with a woman at an apartment near campus, his attorney said. Nunn, who has been suspended from the team, is free on bond.

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