KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Western Michigan women's basketball head coach Shane Clipfell announced the addition of Larry Ford as the program's next assistant coach on Monday, September, 30.
"We go back more than 25 years with our friendship and being colleagues in the coaching profession. He will also play roles with our special teams area and will be a great sounding board for our staff. We welcome Larry, Anita, and the entire Ford team to the Bronco Family!"
A native of Flint, Michigan, Ford returned to his hometown to serve as an assistant coach for Flushing High School (Class A) in 2000. Under his guidance, Ford led seven student-athletes to collegiate division one scholarships. Ford climbed up the ranks at Flushing and served two years as an assistant coach on the boy's basketball varsity team (2000-2001) and was also an assistant on the girl's basketball varsity squad for seven years (1997-2003). Ford eventually found himself as the girl's varsity head coach and led his team from 2004-2021. At the high school level, Ford was a 13-time conference coach of the year behind an impressive 343 wins and a win percentage of 0.764. In league play, Ford guided Flushing to an impressive 205 wins in 236 conference games (0.870 win percentage), resulting in 14 league titles, seven district titles, and two regional titles. In the postseason, Ford boasted a 34-19 record (0.640 win percentage) in the state tournament and captured a state title in the 2017 season.
"In his first week on the job you can already see signs of his tutelage to our post players which is one of his major roles for us. We hit a home run with the addition of Larry to our staff." emphasized Coach Clipfell.
As a result of his success at the high school level, Ford earned Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Regional Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and 2009. He was later crowned BCAM State Coach of the Year in 2017.
Ford spent over 20 years at JP Morgan Chase Bank (1991-2014) and worked his way to becoming the Vice President of Human Resources with the company. At JP Morgan Chase, Ford led management and oversaw employee relations, employment, and performance.
Ford resides in Flushing, Michigan, and is married to Anita Ford. The couple has two children: Erika Ford-Brown, and Larry Ford III, and three grandchildren: DaniLynn Brown, Macy Brown, and Josie Brown.
In 1985 Ford earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management from Spring Arbor University.
For all things WMU women's basketball, follow the team's socials @wmu_wbb and visit wmubroncos.com.
