Southern Arkansas University Athletics

Sarah Ford enters her first season as assistant coach of the Mulerider Volleyball program.

Ford comes to Magnolia from NCAA Division III Millsaps College where she served as an assistant coach for the Majors Volleyball program since 2019. During that time, Ford helped lead MC to 38 wins, saw 11 players garner All-Southern Athletic Association honors and she assisted the program in on-court coaching, player development, and day-to-day operations which included recruiting, practice planning and travel coordination. Ford also served as the program’s Academic Coordinator which resulted in the Majors earning USMC/AVCA Team Academic honors all three years of her being in the position.
 
Prior to her time at Millsaps, Ford served as the Executive Assistant to the President for the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Ford managed budgets and expenses related to the office and helped managed meetings, fundraisers and press conferences for the franchise’s key executives and had a role in the creation of the Iron Kids Health Initiative directed at youth throughout Birmingham to encourage them to become more active and get involved in sports.
 
Additionally, Ford has assisted with the Special Olympics of Alabama Volleyball Tournament and served as the site coordinator for the annual Mississippi Volleyball All-Star Game. She also worked as the Head Graduate Assistant in Auburn University at Montgomery’s Human Performance Lab where she was honored as the Kinesiology’s Department Most Outstanding Student in Sport Management following her graduation and completion of coursework which included scheduling and administering stress tests, body fat testing, Vo2 max tests, and bone density scans.
 
Collegiately, Ford played in 449 of 489 sets over a four-year career as a setter and opposite hitter at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, where she produced 436 kills, 637 assists, 388 digs and 123 blocks. 
 
Ford's coaching career began with the Capital City Juniors Volleyball Club where she was both an assistant coach and head coach for various ages from 2012-2016. While there, she was responsible for developing practice and conditioning plans for her teams, choosing tournaments for team participation as well as facilitating camps and lessons for girls ages 5-18.
 
Ford earned a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from Faulkner University in April of 2016 and received her Master of Education in Sport Management from Auburn University at Montgomery in May 2018.