{"id":485324,"date":"2026-02-17T08:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485324\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T08:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:06:07","slug":"blue-jackets-scott-ford-to-interview-for-ncaa-coaching-vacancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485324\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jackets’ Scott Ford To Interview For NCAA Coaching Vacancy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Columbus Blue Jackets have granted permission for assistant coach Scott Ford to interview for the vacant head coaching role at Brown University\u2019s men\u2019s hockey program, according to The Athletic\u2019s Aaron Portzline<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Portzline added that there would be \u201cfurther conversations\u201d between GM Don Waddell and head coach Rick Bowness if Ford ends up offered the job. Ford\u2019s name first came up regarding the role in a report from New England Hockey Journal\u2019s Mark Divver.<\/a><\/p>\n

Brown is currently without a permanent head coach after former bench boss Brendan Whittet stepped away from the program<\/a> on Jan. 28 to take a family medical leave. The University noted as part of its announcement that when he returns from leave, \u201cWhittet will transition into a new role in athletics administration.\u201d Whittet became head coach at Brown in 2009-10 after a decade as an assistant coach at Dartmouth College. His most successful campaign came in 2012-13, when he led Brown to the finals of the ECAC tournament..<\/p>\n

Ford, 46, is a Brown alumnus who captained the program in 2003-04 and was that year named his conference\u2019s top defensive defenseman<\/a>. He\u2019s in his second season as an assistant coach in Columbus, brought there as a member of former head coach Dean Evason\u2019s staff. He remained on staff after the Blue Jackets swapped head coaches and hired Bowness, but like many assistants who are holdovers from a prior bench boss, his future in Columbus is likely somewhat uncertain.<\/p>\n

Seeing as Whittet remained in his position for well over a decade, it\u2019s unlikely Ford will have an abundance of opportunities to become the head coach at his alma mater \u2013 a factor that could impact his interest in making the NHL-to-NCAA move. NCAA coaches often enjoy a significantly greater degree of job stability than NHL coaches, and especially assistant coaches. Not only does that mean the Brown head coaching role, once filled, is unlikely to become vacant again for quite some time, it also means an NHL coach with an uncertain future given the departure of his former boss could be particularly attracted to an NCAA vacancy. That, combined with the fact that Brown is Ford\u2019s alma mater, give Ford all the reason to be interested in the head coaching role at Brown.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s too early to tell whether Ford will ultimately land in Rhode Island, this is a storyline for Blue Jackets fans to look out for as the Olympic break continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Columbus Blue Jackets have granted permission for assistant coach Scott Ford to interview for the vacant head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3936,74469,704,575,245727,245728,85],"class_list":["post-485324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-don-waddell","tag-ncaa","tag-nhl","tag-rick-bowness","tag-scott-ford","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}