Thomas Ford was introduced as the 11th head coach of SFU football on January 15, 2018. Ford has over 10 years of NCAA and high school coaching experience in the United States.
A native of Seattle, Ford has coached in the NCAA at the University of Puget Sound (Division III), Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Division II), and at his alma mater, Linfield College (Division III), where he was a star running back, team captain and national champion. Ford also brings experience re-building the football program at Stadium High School in Tacoma, WA and a network of contacts throughout the Pacific Northwest.
In his first season with SFU in 2018, Ford led the program to its first win since October 18, 2014 - a dominant 54-7 victory over Division III's Willamette University. His work in rebuilding the program was recognized by his peers in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), who voted him as the 2018 GNAC Coach of the Year.
“My vision is to graduate leaders with a pathway to a meaningful career, relentlessly compete and win on the football field as well as serve as a point of pride and unity for the community,” said Ford. “The three key elements to building a winning culture at SFU are recruiting the student-athletes focused on athletics and academics with the work ethic to handle anything, getting kids to believe they can win and developing individuals within the program with our strength and conditioning plan so it becomes harder to surrender on the field. I lead with integrity, and build relationships wherever I coach, so I am looking forward to earn the respect and confidence of players and coaches through my values and vision.”
Ford has experience creating a winning culture within a football program. After serving two seasons as the defensive coordinator at the University of Puget Sound, Ford took over as head coach of Stadium High School (2014), which was coming off a 0-10 season and had not had a winning season since 1993. Ford resurrected the program, taking Stadium to the playoffs for the first time in school history, something the team accomplished twice (2016, 2017).
Ford coached at Stadium for four years, and his teams led the Pierce County League in total passing and rushing yards both playoff years. After the 2016 season, Ford was named PCL Co-Coach of the year, and was also named All Area Offensive Coordinator of the Year by the Tacoma News Tribune. Ford also served as a teacher and academic advisor at Stadium.
On March 9, 2018, Ford was honoured with the United States Marine Corps and Glazer Clinics, Semper Fi Coach Award. The award recognizes a high school football coach who lives out the Marine Corps motto of Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful), and who models the Marine Corps leadership values of Honour, Courage and Commitment. Ford is receiving the award for his leadership re-building the football program at Stadium.
As defensive coordinator at UPS in 2013, Ford’s defence improved in almost every statistical category and finished second in the Northwest Conference and ranked 35th nationally in fumble recoveries. From 2009-2012, Ford served as recruiting coordinator and special teams’ coordinator at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. At both schools, Ford was responsible for recruiting Washington, Oregon, California, and Arizona.
A four-year football and track letterman at Linfield College in Oregon, Ford set the Wildcats’ single-game rushing record (237 yards against Redlands) in 2003. Linfield was 41-4 during Ford’s playing career. He ranks still ranks fifth all-time on the career rushing list with 2,333 yards. Ford was a two-time Northwest Conference all-star, a member of four straight Northwest Conference championship teams, and team captain of Linfield’s 2004 NCAA Division III national title team that was inducted into the Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
Ford has a strong strength and conditioning background with deep roots in the football community in the Pacific Northwest. The Ford family has operated Ford Sports Performance in Seattle, an athletic training facility that specializes in training high performance athletes, including professional, college and top high school athletes. Several members of the NFL, including some of the top Seattle Seahawks, train at FSP in the off-season.
Ford played four years of professional indoor football, winning a National Indoor Football League championship with Tri-Cities Fever (Kennewick, WA) in 2005.
A graduate of Linfield in 2004 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education, Ford completed his Master’s Degree in Education at Southeastern Oklahoma State in 2010.
Ford and his wife, Shannon, have two young children, daughter Zoey and son Kingston.
