University at Buffalo women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack announced a pair of promotions on Friday, naming Blair Estarfaa assistant coach and Mitch Ford Director of Basketball Operations.
“We are excited to see growth and development in Coach Blair and Coach Mitch,” said Legette-Jack. “Blair has a great basketball mind and his new role will allow him to be on the court with our players and continue in their development. Coach Mitch has a strong basketball background as well and will be involved in all aspects of our program in his role as our Director of Basketball Operations. We believe we have a fantastic coaching staff and we can’t wait to continue our journey to pursue excellence both on the court and in the classroom.”
Estarfaa spent the 2019-20 season on the Bulls’ staff as the Director of Basketball Operations in which he assisted in various administrative areas including travel coordination, community outreach projects and other day-to-day business operations of the program.
Prior to coming to Buffalo, Estarfaa spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Daemen College. The Wildcats had a magical season in 2018-19 as they compiled a 24-6 overall record, the most victories in the program’s NCAA Division II era, while capturing the program’s second ECC regular season title and earning them a berth in the NCAA Division II East Region Championships for the first time in program history. Prior to his time at Daemon, Estarfaa served as an assistant coach at Alfred University in 2016-17.
He is a graduate of SUNY Cortland and three-year member of the men’s basketball team. He captained the 2015-16 team to a 21-8 record and a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title. He earned first team All-SUNYAC honors and second-team all-district honors as a senior after averaging a team-high 15.4 points. In his three seasons at Cortland he scored 969 career points in 80 games (12.1 points per game) and shot 40 percent from 3-point range (183-of-457). He earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science / Sport Studies from Cortland.
Estarfaa was a standout at Maryvale High School in Cheektowaga, N.Y. As a senior he averaged 25 points a game and collected fifth-team Class A all-state honors. He was also named second-team All-Western New York and ECIC III Player of the Year following his senior year.
Ford is also entering his second season with the Bulls after serving as the team’s video coordinator for the 2019-20 season.
Ford came to Buffalo after spending time as a Player Development Intern with the Dallas Mavericks, in which he assisted with on court player development, played scout team, assisted in game preparation, and coached a G League open tryout team.
The Rochester, NY native also spent time in the front office with the Charlotte Hornets and has operated his own private basketball training business as well as being a part of youth basketball programs in various states.
A four-year starter for Nazareth College from 2012-2016, Ford averaged 15.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in 96 games for the Golden Flyers. He was named an NABC All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2016 after leading the Empire 8 in scoring at 21.4 points per game, a scoring average that ranks fourth on the all-time single-season list. He graduated with degrees in Marketing and Business Administration.
