E-mail Coach Ford (twf2@cornell.edu)
Tom Ford, who served as head baseball coach at Cornell for 18 seasons as the first Ted Thoren Head Coach of Baseball, will serve as associate head coach for the upcoming 2009 season.
Ford succeeded the legendary Thoren when he was named the Big Red's 15th head baseball coach in 1991. Prior to joining the Cornell staff, Ford was the associate head coach at Ithaca College for 10 years. In 2007, aided by the new playing surface at Hoy Field, the Big Red set a school record for fielding percentage. Cornell posted a .970 mark during the season, besting the .968 set during Ford's first season as head coach in 1991.
Ford's 2005 squad accomplished a number of firsts for the Cornell program, including the school's first Gehrig Division title. The Big Red swept four games from Penn on Apr. 23-24 to become the first Cornell team to sweep a four-game series against an Ivy League foe. Those four games and the first game of a doubleheader at Siena on Apr. 26 marked the first time in the 137-year history of Cornell baseball that the Big Red held five straight opponents to one run or less. The first three games in the Penn series also marked the first time in four years that Cornell threw three consecutive complete games.
His first squad compiled a 23-17 overall record for Cornell's first winning season since 1984. As a team, the Big Red hit .306 that season, marking its first .300 season in seven years. The Big Red also beat Georgia Tech in the second game of a twin bill on its spring trip when the Yellow Jackets were ranked second in the country.
In 1995, the Big Red was 20-19 and finished second in the Gehrig Division of the Ivy League with a 10-10 mark. Ford also had the 1998 squad in contention for the Gehrig Division crown until the final weekend of the season. The Big Red's 12-8 finish in the Ivy League was the team's best to date and its 12 league wins was the most by a Cornell team since the 1982 squad went 12-6 in the then-Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League. In his 17 years at Cornell, Ford has compiled a 252-413-2 record. He picked up his 200th career win in the first game of a doubleheader at St. Joseph's (Pa.) on March 13, 2004, while his 250th career victory came on April 15, 2007, in the final game of a four-game set at Columbia.
Ford has done a good job of preparing his players for the next level as well. During his tenure, eight Cornellians have either been selected in Major League Baseball's amatuer draft or signed as undrafted free agents, including most recently Rocky Collis, selected in the 28th round of the 2006 draft by the Seattle Mariners. Other players are: Trevor Schumm `91, free agent, Anaheim Angels; Joel Nies `92, free agent, Boston Red Sox, Brian Williamson `99, 32nd round pick, New York Mets; Raul Gomez `01, free agent, Chicago White Sox; Erik Rico `02, 22nd round pick, Toronto Blue Jays; Chris Schutt `03, seventh round pick, Minnesota Twins; and Dan Baysinger `04, 31st round pick, St. Louis Cardinals.
A 1979 graduate of Ithaca College, Ford has a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education and was awarded his master's degree in 1981. Upon graduation, he served as head junior varsity and assistant varsity coach for the Bombers from 1979 to 1980. He worked strictly with the Bomber varsity as the pitching coach from 1981 until his appointment at Cornell.
Ford also worked as a physical education instructor in the Lansing Central School system. He was the Bobcats' head football coach from 1984-1990 and also spent time as the head junior varsity and assistant varsity basketball coach. Ford also coached the Ithaca Junior Yankees in 1980.
During his undergraduate days at Ithaca, Ford was a pitcher for three years on the varsity, serving as a co-captain in 1979. He was the recipient of the Carlton "Carp" Wood Attitude Award following his senior year. A graduate of Trumansburg (N.Y.) Central School in 1975, Ford played varsity football, basketball and baseball. He and his wife, Kristen, who works in the Cornell Campaign Office as a Senior Campaign Officer for Special Initiatives, have two children, Matthew and Jocelyn.
