Former Nebraska and Lincoln Northeast point guard Ashley Ford will return home as an assistant coach with the Nebraska women’s basketball program, Coach Connie Yori announced on Monday.
Ford, who has spent the past five seasons on former Nebraska Associate Head Coach Cindy Fisher’s staff at the University of San Diego, rejoins the Husker program after helping to lay the foundation of Nebraska’s NCAA Tournament success as a player under Coach Yori.
“It is really gratifying as a coach to see the progress that Ashley has made in her career,” Yori said. “Ashley always has been willing to do the right thing, be patient, work hard and trust the process. I’m confident that she is the right addition to our staff at the right time.”
Ford was the starting point guard on Yori’s first Nebraska NCAA Tournament team in 2006-07. As a senior, Ford started all 32 games for the 22-10 Big Red, while averaging 3.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists. In her final game at the Devaney Center on Senior Night, Ford scored a career-high 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting including 3-for-3 from three-point range, in a win over Colorado.
Ford earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Nebraska in May of 2008, before spending the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons as a graduate assistant manager for the Huskers. The 2009-10 season was the best in school history, as Yori’s Huskers raced to a 32-2 overall record that included a 29-0 regular season. NU won the Big 12 regular-season title with a perfect 16-0 conference record and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before advancing to the program’s first NCAA Sweet 16.
“It is great to be back in Nebraska,” Ford said. “I am so excited to have this great opportunity to be back with Coach Yori and the Husker program. I have spent five great years in San Diego, but I’m thrilled at the opportunity to come back and continue building our program at Nebraska. This has been a dream of mine for a long time.”
Since leaving Nebraska for San Diego, Ford has spent five years helping the Toreros to the most successful stretch in program history. USD has earned four straight postseason tournament appearances, averaging 24.3 wins per year over the past four seasons.
Last season, San Diego finished with a 25-7 overall mark that included a 14-4 record in the West Coast Conference. The Toreros advanced to the WNIT for the fourth straight year, falling in the second round to eventual WNIT champion UCLA.
In Ford’s second season at San Diego, the Toreros produced the best year in school history, rolling to a 26-9 mark that not only included the program’s first-ever postseason win but a trip to the WNIT semifinals. USD fell to eventual WNIT champion Oklahoma State.
The Toreros added a 24-9 record in 2013-14 and another trip to the WNIT Sweet 16, after posting a 22-10 record and a second-round WNIT bid in 2012-13.
Ford replaces Dayna Finch on the Husker coaching staff for 2015-16. Finch, who will remain with the Nebraska staff as Director of Operations, approached Yori about moving into the operations role. Finch, who gave birth in April to her third child in three years, replaces Jan Bethea, who left the program for personal reasons in early June. Bethea spent five seasons as Nebraska’s Director of Operations (2011-15).
“I am really excited to take on this new role and continue to have the opportunity to impact the lives of our student-athletes at Nebraska,” Finch said. “I’m looking forward to helping our players a little more off the court as they grow as people, not just players. From my own family perspective, I hope it gives me a little more time with my own kids. From a staff perspective, Ashley is a great addition. We know she is going to help us in recruiting, scouting, practice and every other area in our program.”
Finch, who was a graduate assistant manager at Nebraska in Ford’s first season with the Huskers in 2005-06, has spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach at NU. Finch helped the Big Red to an average of 24 wins per year over the past four years. She previously spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton and two seasons as an assistant coach at Northern Colorado.
“We feel great about moving Dayna into the operations role because from a team standpoint and a family standpoint, it makes a lot of sense,” Yori said. “Dayna played a valuable role in our success over the last five years as an assistant, but she wanted to take a step back from the demands of coaching at this level so she could spend more time with her growing family. Her role will change, but her contributions in making sure our players get great support will continue to be very important.”
The addition of Ford and the shift in duties for Finch leaves one staff opening at video coordinator for the Huskers. Austin Thoms, who spent the past three seasons as NU’s administrative assistant/video coordinator, recently accepted an assistant coaching position at Northern Colorado.
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Photo Courtesy Nebraska Athletics
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