Ford finds home with new twist

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Ford finds home with new twist



by Mark Murphy
Wednesday, July 16, 2003







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Judging from the polished brown leather sandals that Chris Ford sported on the
Philadelphia bench during yesterday's game against New York, it helps a former
Celtics head coach to work on his old sense of NBA style.

There's an increased play load to get reacquainted with from what Ford juggled
during the last two years at Brandeis University.

``Just getting the feel for it again, there are differences,'' Ford, added to
Randy Ayers' Sixers staff roughly a week ago after a three-year hiatus from
the NBA, said yesterday.

Ford will turn 55 in January, and it's not a bad age for a former head coach
to jump back into the flow of an NBA career.

His youngest son, Michael, just graduated from high school, and his daughter,
Katie, was married down at the family summer home in Margate, N.J., last
weekend.

``We're empty nesters now,'' the former Celtics guard said of the life that
now faces him and wife Kathy, who had become fixtures in Lynnfield over the
last 23 years.

They will hold onto the Lynnfield house, and Kathy Ford will return to teach
piano from time to time.

But this much is certain now that Ford has joined Ayers' staff.

That Jersey shore summer home, roughly an hour from Philadelphia, is now a
year-round residence. Atlantic City, where Ford grew up, is just down the
street again. And as for his alma mater, Villanova, well, some old memories
never die.

``I keep telling people that we have too many Villanova people in our
organization,'' joked Ayers.

In truth, the Sixers need a little experience on the bench right now in the
wake of Larry Brown's wrenching departure.

So here comes Ford, in the new guise of team elder.

``It's his experience - he's won the last game three times,'' Ayers said in
reference to Ford's NBA championship legacy as a Celtic. ``He's been good for
even these last two (summer league) games with me with the things he's been
able to point out.''

Ford laughed.

``Yeah, with these guys I'm kind of an elder statesman all of a sudden, which
is kind of nice,'' he said.

But after three years on the outside following his final head coaching NBA
stop with the Clippers, Ford may be jumping into this stage of his career with
more hunger and passion than your standard elder statesman.

Though he professes to have no regrets with the path that took him to Brandeis
- especially since it allowed the family to stay put while Michael attended
high school - there were also puzzling disappointments along the way.

Two years ago he applied for coaching openings at UMass and Northeastern, only
to receive barely a response from either institution despite his decorated
background in the business.

``Hey, things happen for a reason,'' he says now. ``They didn't bite.''

Which is perhaps just as well now, with life on the Allen Iverson express
beckoning.

In fact, the pace has hastened so much of late, Ford had to leave the message
of his new job on Katie's answering machine last weekend while she was on her
honeymoon.

As it turned out, dad was headed out on a second honeymoon of his own.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx

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