Back in the game: Cheryl Ford heeds call to become Arcadia’s new basketball coach
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Less than a week after returning from a family vacation to the beach in Destin, Ford met with her new team at Arcadia High School on Thursday, where she agreed to become the Lady Hornets’ new coach.
She intends to try to tone down her sideline demeanor in her second head coaching opportunity.
“I was very emotional,” Ford said of her first job at Minden’s Glenbrook Academy from 2020 to 23. “I’m so passionate about the game of basketball. That’s what runs through my blood. Everybody around me played basketball.
“I had to calm down a bit on the sideline and set a better example for my girls,” Ford said. “I want them to have passion for the game. I want them to have passion for the wins, and when they lose, show some emotion. I’ve had to rein that in a little bit. I had to learn to stay in the coach’s box.”
Arcadia, the Division IV non-select state runner-up, found itself in the market for a new coach when Lakinya Currie stepped aside after six seasons. The Lady Hornets (30-6) lost to Lakeview, 38-34, in the state championship, a year after claiming the title over Oakdale.
Currie’s desire to watch her son play at Ruston High, where Ford’s nephew Darren is also on the team, was the catalyst in her decision.
“She wanted to be able to watch her son play, and I understand that,” said the 44-year-old Ford. “Someone reached out (about the job), and it just went from there.”
Ford enjoyed a successful playing career where she was a WBCA All-American at Summerfield High, enjoyed a Hall of Fame career at Louisiana Tech, before winning three WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock.
During her nine-year WNBA career, she earned the league’s Rookie of the Year honor, was a two-time rebound champion, and a four-time WNBA All-Star selection.
Moreover, she also played overseas in Israel, Poland, Italy, and Turkey before a reunion with her former coach Bill Laimbeer, with the New York Liberty resulted in her retirement because of an ailing knee in 2014.
“It’s a struggle,” Ford said of her post-basketball life. “When you’ve eaten, slept, and breathed basketball since the age of 13, that’s all you know and you’re passionate about.
“When you finally hang those shoes up as an athlete, it’s really hard,” Ford said. “Then what? You don’t have the spotlight. You don’t have people calling to check up on you. It’s been a struggle for me to figure out what I’m passionate for next. Right now, it’s me giving back to the girls at a very young age.”
Ford, daughter of Naismith Hall of Famer and 18-year NBA veteran Karl Malone, admits the timing of her new endeavor creates quite a challenge.
Arcadia returns Class 1A first team All-State selection DeAsia Alexander, who averaged 16 points during last season’s run to a state runner-up finish.
“We’re going to be behind,” she said. “I have seven on my roster with three or four girls playing AAU. I will be holding tryouts and trying to find a few more girls. They keep great ball players and athletes coming through there.
“As soon as we can go to work, we’re going to work with whatever I’ve got,” she said. “I’m concerned with a hiring this late. We’re going to make it do with what we’ve got.”
Life’s journey has been filled with uncertainty since Ford, a single mother with an 11-year-old daughter, completed her playing career.
She debuted as a head coach five years ago and has been part of a family business for the past 1-1 ½ years, Ford said.
Going back to Louisiana Tech to finish her degree was a source of pride for Ford, who can now address student-athletes and tout the importance of going to college and completing their studies.
“How I was going to talk to these young ladies about education when I didn’t have my degree,” she said, “I had to practice what I preached.”
The family’s annual beach trip, starting with her mother, Bonita Ford, sister, and daughter, has been a respite everyone has looked forward. Several days into the trip, Cheryl discovered a message on her Facebook page, inquiring about her interest in a high school coaching job at Arcadia.
She wanted to enjoy the week, shoved the message aside until arriving home back in Haughton, where her phone began ringing.
“It was a great feeling to be wanted,” Ford said. “Somebody reached out to me about it. The ball went rolling from there. I wasn’t expecting to be back into the coaching part of it yet.
“I see our girls in north Louisiana are not being taught the skills of basketball,” Ford said. “They’re playing purely off of athleticism. I want to be able to develop, and kids are not being developed. You have to develop these girls and let them have something more than athleticism to play off of.”
Ford excelled under the glaring lights of her father’s remaining spotlight at Louisiana Tech, which inducted her into his Hall of Fame last June.
During her career (1999-2003), Ford scored 1,380 points and was named honorable mention on the Associated Press’ All-America team in ’03. She was a two-time Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, twice named to the WAC’s all-conference team, and was the WAC Tournament MVP in ’03.
She was the No. 3 overall pick in the WNBA Draft, finding a home away from her grassroots upbringing to the big city of Detroit, where former NBA bruisers Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn were the team’s coaches.
Ford became the first player in league history to be named WNBA Rookie of the Year, selected to the All-Star team, and win a league title in the same season.
Detroit won three WNBA championships during Ford’s seven seasons. She was the MVP of the league’s All-Star game in ’07 and twice led the league in rebounding (’06-’07).
Ford also earned a spot on the bronze medal U.S. World Championship team in ’06.
“When Bill (Laimbeer) got the job in New York, I tried it, but my knee wouldn’t stop swelling,” Ford said. “After Detroit, my knee was never the same.”
During her time in Detroit, the Shock were known more as a transition team under Laimbeer, a style of play that’s carried over to Ford’s coaching preferences.
“People used to say when you played us, you better put on your track shoes,” she said. “I like to play fast, but under control.”
Ford looked back on her career and was thankful for the impact her coaches had in helping shape her as a player and now a coach.
That began with her AAU coach Linda Harper, who went on to lead then Northeast Louisiana to a Final Four, followed by Greg Scriber at Summerfield High, to Naismith Hall of Fame coach Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech, to both Laimbeer and Mahorn.
“I’ve had some great coaching influences in my life,” she said.
Ford’s a big proponent of defense and applying full-court pressure.
That may not be to the liking of her new team when she shares her philosophy.
“I like to press,” Ford said. “I know we’re late in the game. They’re going to hate me because I’m big on conditioning. That’s what it’s going to have to be, and that’s how we’re going to play. Defense wins championships. We’ll lean on that, and the offense will come.”
When Ford shared with her dad the prospect of getting back into coaching at Arcadia, he provided a brief history lesson on the school’s basketball program.
“He’s a very proud dad,” she said. “I had told him about it, possibly. He said they always had athletes, and they needed someone there for the right reasons. He sat back and let me make the decision. He and my mom, and my family are very proud of me.”
Arcadia has one of the state’s richest basketball traditions, tying for 10th all-time with seven state championships, including their latest in 2024.
Ford will follow her first team meeting with an orientation for first-hire teachers at the school in two weeks. She’ll look forward to the daily 54-mile commute from her home in Bossier Parish to Arcadia, which is located in Bienville Parish.
Ford will coach basketball for only the second time, a game she first learned as a teenager and then starred at the high school, college, and professional levels.
Despite not having an offseason, filled with summer league play and open gym sessions, Ford embraces the opportunity to be reconnected to the game once again.
“I think we’re going to be OK,” she said. “My dad said to just be a coach for them for the right reasons, and I’m there for the girls. It’s not about me. It’s about how I can help them succeed on and off the court.”