It’s an hour before Mark Daigneault and the Thunder are set to face Billy Donovan’s Bulls. On this Monday night on the last day of March, Ryan Ford is about to fly home to South Carolina after a business trip in Los Angeles.
Little did Ford know, his name had been brought up by both Daigneault and Donovan in their pregame media availabilities when the coaches were asked how they first connected at Florida.
It was Ford who introduced them.
“There’s a short version and a long version,” Ford said of the story, “so I’ll probably try to get somewhere in the middle.”
Ford entertained making a detour in Oklahoma City on his way home from LA, to see two of his dearest friends coach against each other, but the timing didn’t work out. Timing. So much of life is shaped by the random sequence of circumstances.
The timing of how Ford met Daigneault, to then connect Daigneault with Donovan, is quite the tale.
“I have nothing to do with Billy’s success, and I have nothing to do with Mark’s success,” Ford said, “but somehow I was able to be a bridge for them meeting each other.”
Billy Donovan and Ryan Ford were teammates at Providence
Ryan Ford, who had an injured knee coming out of high school, described himself as a Division II player “at best.”
Ford went to Providence not to play, but to be a manager for the basketball team. The Friars had a new coach — an up-and-comer named Rick Pitino.
Ford, a part of the team but not on the team, stayed late after practices to work out his knee. Also in the gym every night was Billy Donovan, a Providence guard two years ahead of Ford. They trained together and became fast friends. They pushed each other.
Ford made the Friars as a walk-on the next season, when “Billy The Kid” Donovan led No. 6 seed Providence all the way to the Final Four.
Ford was the best man in Donovan’s wedding. Their friendship has lasted 40 years and counting.
