Julia Ford

Biography

Ford begins her first season on the GCU staff as assistant coach for the upcoming 2025-26 season after previously serving the same role at Missouri last season. Ford brings in six years of coaching experience, moving from graduate assistant at Clemson to assistant coach at Missouri. She spent the past two seasons with the Tigers, serving as special assistant to the head coach in 2023-24 before moving into the assistant role in 2024-25. During the summer of 2025, Ford was named head coach of Team USA's Women's 3x3 U19 Nations League team. Ford led Team USA to the FIBA Women's AmeriCup title in Punta Arenas, Chile, as the team finished 14-2 over the course of seven days. Ford aided the development of Grace Slaughter, who led the Tigers in scoring (15.0 points per game) and was named SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year. Ford coached Slaughter into becoming one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, going from 37.1% her freshman year to 45.9% her sophomore season. In 2022-23, Ford led film study efforts and oversaw development of 2022-23 SEC All-Freshman player Ashton Judd, who like Slaughter, improved her offensive production under Ford from 7.4 points per game to 13.4 points per game. Ford's player development skills were quickly noticed around the SEC and the nation, as Slaughter and Abby Schreacke were among the country's best freshmen. Slaughter earned All-SEC Freshman Team accolades and ranked fourth among first-year players in scoring (11.6 ppg) while Schreacke led the c