Albany

One of the iconic figures in the University at Albany athletic program is hanging up his clipboard and cowboy hat in a few months.

Bob Ford, embarking on his 44th season as UAlbany football coach, announced Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the year.

"I've been fortunate to have never gone to work a day in my life," Ford, wearing his characteristic straw hat, said at a news conference. "I love my staff. I've giggled from the time I walked across the threshold."

Before he departs, Ford will lead the Great Danes into a new stadium — on the appropriately named Bob Ford Field — and into a new conference, the Colonial Athletic Association.

Both represent significant upgrades for a football program that had been dormant for 46 years before Ford was hired April 27, 1970. His total of 264 victories, including nine at St. Lawrence in the 1960s, ranks 14th on college football's all-time list.

Ford, who turns 76 three days before the home opener Sept. 14, said he considered retirement after last season, which ended with the Danes winning their sixth Northeast Conference championship in 14 years as a league member.

"That would be a great time to ride off into the sunset," he said, "but I've always enjoyed the role of an underdog. You couldn't ask for a better role than the one we're going to be thrust into this year. It's a new stadium, and, this isn't going to come as a shock, we're going to lose some football games this year. ... I didn't want to turn that job over to brand new coaches and let them take the hit on it."

Athletic Director Lee McElroy said no timetable has been set on finding Ford's replacement. Offensive coordinator Ryan McCarthy, who was given the additional title of associate head coach last year, is the leading candidate internally.

"My phone will not stop ringing for a long time when this announcement comes out," McElroy said. "This is a great job, great facility, great conference, a guy who knows everybody in college football. It's an ideal situation. The president (Robert Jones) and I are going to sit down and formulate a game plan very soon on who our next coach will be."

"We hope that the successor is coming out of this organization," Ford said. "There are a lot of guys here who have played the price. Ryan McCarthy has been named associate head coach, and he's certainly ready for the job."

Football was a club sport when Ford started at UAlbany. He has led the transition through the NCAA Division III and Division II levels to its current state of Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The program will grow from 35 scholarships given to 63 over the next two years, McElroy said.

Ford and Richard "Doc" Sauers, who was head coach of the basketball program for 41 seasons before his 1997 retirement, have been the backbone of an athletic department that has grown substantially from its non-scholarship days.

"That will never happen again in American athletics," Ford said of his and Sauers' longevity. "People are just too impatient."

Ford coached 10 seasons at St. Lawrence, Albright and Springfield, mostly as an assistant, before arriving at UAlbany. He has a career record of 246-180-1, including 97-58 since the Great Danes joined Division I

"He had a big part to do with why I came here," said Omar Osbourne, a junior running back from Syracuse. "I really liked how I was treated on my visit and the standard he held all his players to and how there really was a sense of family. You can lean on any guy around you and not feel like you're an outcast. I really liked that."

Ford has been offered an opportunity to stay with the university "in some capacity" when the season ends.

"I certainly wouldn't mind staying around," he said.

pdougherty@timesunion.com • 518-454-5416 • @Pete_Dougherty