Stadium football coach leaving to take over at NCAA Division II Simon Fraser

Stadium High School football coach Thomas Ford is leaving Tacoma for Canada.

He’ll go to Burnaby, British Columbia, to become the next head coach at Simon Fraser University after four historic years at Stadium.

“If I were going to stay in high school, I would have stayed at Stadium forever,” Ford said. “But I had a burning itch to go back to college and recruit and be in a football office all day long and that’s what I’m going to get an opportunity to do here.”

One problem — Simon Fraser has lost 33 consecutive games.

Although, Stadium had never reached the postseason before Ford was hired. Then Stadium reached the district playoffs last year and he guided them back there this past season.

He clearly has a soft spot in his heart for struggling programs.

“Well,” Ford laughed, “those are the programs that give you the opportunities. Sometimes you got to be willing to build something up to be able to show you can do it. I got that chance at Stadium and hopefully I can do that here. I think that’s a big reason why they hired me.”

Ford was the defensive coordinator at the University of Puget Sound before taking his first head coach job in Tacoma.

Stadium went 0-10 in his first year there in 2014 but made steady progress. The Tigers went 3-7 in 2015 and then finished 6-4 in 2016, their first winning season since 1993.

This past season, Stadium finished 4-6. But it still made the postseason and Ford’s offense was prolific, leading the 3A Pierce County League in total offense each of the past two years.

Senior quarterback Hunter Wendling completed 177 of 288 passes for 2,503 yards and 25 touchdowns, running back Nazje Briscoe had 140 carries for 1,370 yards and 17 TDs and wide receiver Xavier Mason had 66 catches for 1,080 yards and 11 TDs. Ford doubled as Stadium’s offensive coordinator and he was selected as The News Tribune’s offensive coordinator of the year in 2016.

“Seeing how hard those kids worked and they really gave me everything they had and believed in what we were doing — that was really special,” Ford said. “To be able to see the fruits of their labor amount to seomthing was pretty cool.”

Ford leaves to become the first U.S.-born coach at Simon Fraser since Ernest Duncan “Pokey” Allen in 1973. Ford was a standout running back at Linfield College (setting the school record for single-game years, with 237 against Redlands in 2003).

He graduated from Mountlake Terrace High School, where he also dabbled in inline speedskating.

Yes, speedskating. Ford doubles as a broadcaster for the national speedskating circuit, which he’s been doing since 2009.

And there’s a lot of ice in Canada.

“My skating career might be over, though,” he said. “I don’t think I can do the ice thing. That’s a little cold for me.”

He was recently selected as the United State Marine Corps and Glazer Clincs Semper Fi coach of the year, which recognizes coaches who live out the Marine Corps motto of Semper Fidelis (always faithful) and who model its leadership values.

Ford will become Simon Fraser’s 11th head coach in its history. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, NCAA Division II football team has lost 33 consecutive games.

“I am incredibly excited about the challenge of taking over at SFU and can’t wait to start building something great,” Ford said.

This story was originally published January 15, 2018 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Stadium football coach leaving to take over at NCAA Division II Simon Fraser."