Danny Ford

Danny Ford
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	December 19, 1947 (1947-12-19) (age 63)
Playing career
1967–1969	Alabama
Position(s)	Tackle
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1973 1974–1976 1977–1978 1978–1989 1993–1997	Alabama (assistant) Virginia Tech (assistant) Clemson (OL) Clemson Arkansas
Head coaching record
Overall	122–59–5
Bowls	6–3
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 National (1981) 5 ACC (1981–1982, 1986–1988) 1 SEC Western Division (1995)
Awards
AFCA Coach of the Year (1981) Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1981) ACC Coach of the Year (1981)

Danny Lee Ford (born December 19, 1947) is a former American football player and coach. He played college football at the University of Alabama from 1967 to 1969. He served as the head football coach at Clemson University in South Carolina from 1978 to 1989 and at the University of Arkansas from 1993 to 1997, compiling a career record of 122–59–5. During his 12 seasons as head coach of the Clemson Tigers, he captured five Atlantic Coast Conference titles and won six bowl games. Ford's 1981 Clemson team completed a 12–0 season with a win in the Orange Bowl and was named the consensus national champion.

Early career

After graduating from Gadsden High School in Gadsden, Alabama in 1966, Ford was an All-SEC selection under Paul "Bear" Bryant at the University of Alabama, where he played in three bowl games. He received a bachelor's degree in industrial arts in 1970 and a master's degree in special education in 1971 from Alabama. Ford coached as an assistant at Alabama and Virginia Tech before joining Charley Pell's staff at Clemson.

Clemson

Pell left for the University of Florida after the end of the 1978 season, and Ford was named his successor. He led the Tigers in the 1978 Gator Bowl, defeating Ohio State, 17–15. That game is more remembered, however, for an incident in which Buckeye coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman. Hayes was fired the next day.

In 1981, Ford led Clemson to a 12–0 record and the national championship—the first national title in the school's 98-year history. They won the title by defeating Nebraska in the 1982 Orange Bowl. Nebraska was the third top-10 team upended by the Tigers that year, the others being defending national champion Georgia and North Carolina. As of the 2010 season, Ford is still the youngest coach to win a national championship. He had turned 34 two months before the Orange Bowl. Just days after the 1982 season ended, however, the Tigers were found guilty of massive recruiting violations. While most of them occurred under Pell, the NCAA found they had continued under Ford. The Tigers were barred from bowl games in 1982 and 1983, and kicked off live television in 1983 and 1984. However, since no active players were involved in the violations, Clemson was allowed to keep its national title.

Ford didn't take long to recover from the probation, and won three straight ACC titles from 1986 and 1988. In 1989, Clemson registered a 10–2 season and top-12 national ranking for the fourth straight season. Ford closed his career with a 27–7 win over West Virginia (and their All-America quarterback Major Harris) in the Gator Bowl. In the decade of the 1980s, Clemson had the nation's fifth-highest winning percentage.

While at Clemson, Ford defeated a number of coaches later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, including Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, and Woody Hayes.

Ford resigned on January 18, 1990, after a falling out with Clemson administration. He was subsequently cleared in an NCAA investigation that also was announced around that time.

Ford compiled a 96–29–4 (.760) record at Clemson, including a 6–2 bowl record. He is second on the school's wins list, behind only Frank Howard. He was the third winningest coach in the country on a percentage basis after the 1989 season. Ford also coached 21 All-Americans and 41 players who went on to play in the NFL, during his 11 seasons at Clemson.

Arkansas

Joe Kines brought Ford to the University of Arkansas in 1992 to help with the clean-up following Frank Broyles' firing Jack Crowe (Ford's former offensive coordinator at Clemson) after a loss to The Citadel. This immediately led to speculation that Ford would be named head coach on a permanent basis. The speculation bore fruit after the season, when Ford was named head coach. He led Arkansas to an SEC West championship in 1995 on the legs of Madre Hill and the defensive genius of Joe Lee Dunn, after emerging from two years under Crowe. However, this was one of only two winning seasons the Razorbacks notched in Ford's tenure. Broyles fired Ford following back-to-back 4–7 campaigns. Ford finished 26–30–1 in five seasons with the Razorbacks.

Family

Ford and his wife, Deborah, have four children, Jennifer, Ashleigh, Elizabeth, and Lee. They currently reside in the Clemson, South Carolina area.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Clemson Tigers (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1978–1989)
1978	Clemson	1–0[n 1]	[n 1]	[n 1]	W Gator	7	6
1979	Clemson	8–4	4–2	T–2nd	L Peach
1980	Clemson	6–5	2–4	T–4th
1981	Clemson	12–0	6–0	1st	W Orange	1	1
1982	Clemson	9–1–1	6–0	1st			8
1983	Clemson	9–1–1	7–0	1st			11
1984	Clemson	7–4	5–2	2nd
1985	Clemson	6–6	4–3	4th	L Independence
1986	Clemson	8–2–2	5–1–1	1st	W Gator	19	17
1987	Clemson	10–2	6–1	1st	W Citrus	10	12
1988	Clemson	10–2	6–1	1st	W Citrus	8	9
1989	Clemson	10–2	5–2	3rd	W Gator	11	12
Clemson:		96–29–4	56–16–1
Arkansas Razorbacks (Southeastern Conference) (1993–1997)
1993	Arkansas	6–4–1	5–2–1	3rd (West)
1994	Arkansas	4–7	2–6	T–4th (West)
1995	Arkansas	8–5	6–2	1st (West)	L Carquest
1996	Arkansas	4–7	2–6	T–5th (West)
1997	Arkansas	4–7	2–6	T–5th (West)
Arkansas:		26–30–1	15–25–1
Total:		122–59–5
National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title
#Rankings from final Coaches' Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c} Charley Pell coached the first 11 games of the season.

References

External links

• Danny Ford at the College Football Data Warehouse

Persondata
Name	Ford, Danny
Alternative names
Short description	American football player and coach
Date of birth	December 19, 1947
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death