Dana Ford shouldn't shoulder all of the blame after Missouri State AD's surprise statement

From the moment Missouri State Athletics Director Kyle Moats posted a late-night statement expressing his frustration with the current direction of his men's basketball program, there was no going back.

Rare are the in-season statements that express that kind of disappointment in a coach who was already widely considered on the hot seat.

The clock is ticking for sixth-year head coach Dana Ford barring some sort of miraculous turnaround.

And that may just be the start.

The Bears sit at 1-4 in Missouri Valley Conference play, and five teams are tied at the top at 4-1. According to KenPom projections, they are expected to lose three of their next four and finish with an 8-12 record in league play.

Fans aren't showing up. The announced attendance of 2,109 on Wednesday was laughable; Great Southern Bank Arena looked as empty as it had been for a men's basketball game since the building opened. Even when the Bears found success in non-conference play, it's not like the games were fun to attend. The promises of a better gameday experience by Moats haven't been kept.

The Missouri State men's basketball program is in its darkest days since the last few years of the Paul Lusk era. It could easily be argued as the darkest it's ever been, considering the waning interest of the fanbase.

The entirety of the blame doesn't fall on Ford. Moats knows this, as he acknowledged his role in it, too. To steal his words, it's his "job to continually evaluate the program's progress to make sure" the team plays at a competitive level. He shoulders plenty of blame, as does his boss.

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After all, they were the ones who stuck their necks out for Ford near the end of last season when they decided to bring him back.

Among Missouri State fans, how men's basketball performs will be the lasting legacy of Moats, along with retiring MSU President Clif Smart, who has had his hands all over athletics.

They won't be remembered for the two historic football years under Bobby Petrino or their great years of women's basketball. They'll be remembered for leaving what's supposed to be the university's marquee program in a worse spot than they found it if there isn't a quick turnaround.

Moats must be feeling some pressure as he and Smart have been connected at the hip during their years together. It's not uncommon for new presidents to come in and want their own athletics director. His words Wednesday night might have been the latest action added to his audition.

Some could read into Moats' statement as someone trying to save his job when, more than likely, he was probably just angry about the dreadful display. But it's a story that can't be ignored. He has a contract that runs through 2026, and a buyout would be $185,000 if the university were to cancel it before June 2025.

What kind of actions could be taken? Moats' statement also opened the door for scenarios that wouldn't have been thought of before. An unprecedented social media post like that can lead to more unprecedented actions.

It's been Missouri State's protocol under the current administration to not make such comments until the season is over. The embarrassment of the team's performance in recent games led to the breach.

Could Missouri State make an in-season change? We haven't seen Moats do it before, and it would be surprising to see this administration pull the trigger now.

They didn't do it when Lusk was the head coach and the Bears lost nine of their last 11 games. It's still the same administration that intended to bring back football coach Dave Steckel after his second 1-10 season before they parted ways a little over a month later.

Odds are still with Ford being on the sideline when the Bears are playing an opening-round game at Arch Madness.

But if the Bears don't right the ship and turn in more efforts like they did in Wednesday's 77-53 home loss to Murray State or their 86-60 loss at Bradley days before? A warning shot has been fired.

It does, however, seem increasingly unlikely that Ford will be the Bears' head coach in November. The conversation since the preseason assumed this year would be his last — by winning and moving up or losing and being let go. A buyout on his contract would pay him half of the payments due on his deal.

Ford and junior guard Alston Mason said after Wednesday's loss that the locker room was still together — even when the common viewer might say Ford has lost the locker room after watching how they played. It's been an annual occurrence under Ford to see the team's effort go away and for him to go deep into the bench to find a spark. Unfortunately, Ross Owens and Isaac Haney aren't walking through that door.

We'll see how the Bears respond on a two-game road trip Saturday at Evansville and Tuesday at Indiana State, where the Sycamores have looked like the league's best team.

Moats' post on X, formerly known as Twitter, marked a moment for the Missouri State men's basketball program that we haven't seen before. Who knows what could take place before the postseason?

Whatever comes, the post was the exclamation point on an already dark night for the Bears as they head into the remainder of their season.

Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or X at @WyattWheeler_NL.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: What to make of Missouri State AD Kyle Moats' post on men's basketball