Dustin Ford isn’t a slam dunk hire by the University of Akron just because he learned from former longtime Zips men’s basketball coach John Groce for 18 seasons.
Ford’s pedigree is another reason he represents the epitome of a logical choice to fill the big shoes Groce has left behind at UA.
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Thieves in Cambridge, Ohio, knew houses were empty on Friday nights because virtually everyone attended the local high school basketball games.
Ford’s late father, Gene, created a basketball coaching legacy at Cambridge High School and other stops, including Muskingum University. Gene, who died in 2019, is in the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame along with his eldest son, Geno Ford, a longtime college head coach who’s at the helm of Stony Brook.
Dustin Ford is a first-time college head coach, but the requisite makeup for the job is in his DNA. He exuded the leadership qualities UA brass is giddy about during an introductory news conference April 15 at House Three Thirty in Akron.
With a blend of humor, charisma and emotion, the guy can command a room, or, in this case, the cabaret at the old Tangier revamped by the LeBron James Family Foundation.
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It all stems from his upbringing.
“I don’t know if I could do anything else,” Ford told the Beacon Journal after the news conference. “That doesn’t mean I’m a good coach. I just don’t think I could do anything else.”
University of Akron men’s basketball coach Dustin Ford speaks during the event introducing him as the new Zips coach on April 15, 2026, in Akron.
Ford, 47, and his brother played for their dad at Cambridge and then continued their basketball careers at Ohio University. Geno Ford also served as an assistant coach while Dustin still played for the Bobcats.
Their relationship remains invaluable for Dustin Ford as he guides Akron through its post-Groce transition. Groce left UA on March 30 to become the head coach at the College of Charleston. The same day, the Zips promoted Ford, who had been a Groce assistant for all 18 seasons of Groce’s head coaching career, including the past nine at Akron.
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It’s reasonable to expect an adjustment period for Ford and UA, though Ford isn’t lowering expectations. He referenced Akron’s unprecedented three-peat as a men’s basketball Mid-American Conference Tournament champion and rhetorically asked, “Why not four?”
Ford is bold enough to set a confident tone and call shots, even if he needs a reminder from time to time.
“My brother probably really gave me some good advice about two weeks ago,” Ford said. “I called him, and I was debating some stuff on what I wanted to do here. And he basically is like, ‘Dustin, stop. Make a decision and move. Because guess what? Now you have to make every one of them. You don’t have time to [wonder], oh, what if this happened? Go with your gut, go with what you believe, make the decision and move.’ It was probably the best advice anyone’s given me to this juncture.”
Akron Zips coach John Groce, facing, hugs his brother, Miami RedHawks coach Travis Steele, before the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship game March 15, 2025, in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Fords are hardly the only brother tandem in college basketball’s coaching fraternity. For example, Groce vied against his younger brother, Miami RedHawks coach Travis Steele, in the Mid-American Conference.
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Groce and Steele always kept their matchups civil. The Fords might show their brotherly love in a different way if Akron were to play Stony Brook.
“Growing up, I was four years younger, always smaller, and I took a lot of beatings by Geno and his friends,” Dustin Ford said. “Let’s pick on the little dude, right? I was 150 pounds in college my freshman year. At the end of the year, I was about 180.
“Geno came back from [playing in] England after my freshman year, and we got into it in the living room. His mom, my mom, had to come pull me off, so I wouldn’t mind finishing that, but I don’t know if we should do that in a public forum. So, maybe we can do it next year at Christmas just to see if times have changed at all.
“But, yeah, I don’t care about playing family and friends because at the end of the day, when you go across those lines, it’s about competing. There are guys in this league I’m friends with. [Kent State coach] Rob Senderoff and I are great friends. When we play Kent, I’m going to want to beat his head in, and Rob’s going to want to beat our head in. That’s how it should be. But when the game’s over, you shake their hand, and there’s a level of respect.”
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Akron sports: UA introduces Zips basketball coach Dustin Ford at news conference
University of Akron men’s basketball coach Dustin Ford talks to Bud Wentz before the event to introduce coach Ford at House Three Thirty in Akron on April 15, 2026.
Ford is clearly a character and a competitor, nature-and-nurture byproducts of his basketball family.
“You almost get, like, a coaching MBA at the dinner table every single night,” Zips athletic director Andrew T. Goodrich said.
Ford described his dad as “a phenomenal coach” who excelled at building relationships with players and making in-game adjustments. As a head coach, Ford is eager to establish a similar reputation in those areas.
Akron’s leaders made a projection by hiring Ford, whose only previous head coaching experience came at Jackson High School (2002-05) in Jackson, Ohio.
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By the same token, Goodrich and Co. recognized Ford was raised for the job they offered him.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Dustin Ford’s coaching family gives Akron Zips basketball confidence
