Back in August, Chloe Mann predicted that Duncanville would win a state title, posting on X (formerly Twitter) that “Duncanville girls basketball will be adding a 12th banner in Sandra Meadows Arena in 2024.”
That is how much faith the Cincinnati signee had in Neiman Ford, who four months earlier had been announced as the new head coach of a legendary program that has won the third-most state titles in UIL history.
On Saturday, Mann’s prophecy came to fruition as Duncanville beat South Grand Prairie 59-41 in the Class 6A state championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio as seniors Mariah Clayton and Mann combined to score 32 points. It was Ford’s fifth trip to the state tournament, and he has never lost a game there — at least on the court.
In Friday’s state semifinal, Duncanville was outscored 11-2 in the fourth quarter but regained its composure to hold Humble Summer Creek scoreless in overtime in a stressful 39-31 win. On Saturday, South Grand Prairie raced to a 16-7 lead but Duncanville again stayed calm and outscored SGP 42-23 in the second half.
“I’m blessed, I’m fortunate,” Ford said. “It’s the kids, the culture, the program. In the city of Duncanville, the kids have a will to win that is unexplainable. It’s almost like mythical how they summon some type of energy.”
When he came to Duncanville in 2018 for his first coaching job, Ford was the assistant head coach for the boys team that won state titles in 2019 and 2021 and reached the state tournament in 2020 before that year’s event was canceled because of the pandemic. The Duncanville boys went back to state in 2022 and won the title on the court, beating McKinney 69-49 in the final as future first-round NBA draft pick Anthony Black was named the game’s MVP.
Seven months later, the 2022 state title was stripped by the UIL, which ruled that Duncanville used an ineligible player — Black — even though his family sought a court’s decision to allow him to keep playing during much of the season. Duncanville had to forfeit all games in which Black played, including both state tournament games.
But his success on the boys side, which included a 29-1 record and No. 3 national ranking last season as the interim head coach, showed that Ford was the right man for the girls head coaching job. Duncanville went 35-4 this season, won 25 of its last 26 games, had three wins over nationally ranked opponents (DeSoto twice) and closed the season with four consecutive wins against teams ranked in the top nine in the state.
That was while playing in District 11-6A, which had all four playoff teams reach at least the third round, including state No. 1 DeSoto.
“Me being [at state] several times really prepped me so I could lead this team,” Ford said. “[Boys head coach David] Peavy did a great job of allowing me to play a major role in a lot of things that took place over the last few years, as far as the game planning, the prep, navigating the playoffs, the tactical moves. When I got here, I was comfortable.”
Ford took over a girls program that became a national powerhouse under four state championship female coaches — Sandra Meadows, Sara Hackerott, Cathy Self-Morgan and LaJeanna Howard. It was a tough legacy to follow.
Meadows won four state titles at Duncanville (including three in a row), had a 743-120 record in 25 seasons at the school and led the Pantherettes on a 134-game winning streak from 1987 to 1991. Hackerott won the 1997 state title and had a 173-11 record in five seasons there, and Self-Morgan won five state titles and had a record of 638-83 — including a 105-game winning streak — in 19 seasons at Duncanville.
“It was an honor,” Ford said of being named the girls coach. “It’s the best program in the country. I don’t know how many other programs had women that went on to play professionally, were McDonald’s All-American selections, USA gold medalists, college players, college coaches, high school coaches. This is a program that is second to none.”
While coaching the Duncanville boys, Ford had the opportunity to work with phenoms such as Jahmi’us Ramsey (has played in the NBA), Micah Peavy (now at TCU), Zhuric Phelps (now at SMU), Ron Holland (projected to be a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA draft), Black (the No. 6 pick in the 2023 NBA draft) and KJ Lewis (now at Arizona). With the Duncanville girls, Ford took a team that had only two seniors and that didn’t have anyone averaging more than 13.6 points per game and transformed it into a squad that was ranked No. 13 in America a year after being banned from the playoffs by the UIL because of a rules violation.
“Everybody thinks that because somebody is so good that it’s easy to just roll the ball out, but when we’re dealing with high-level players, it comes with a lot of high expectations,” Ford said. “Those high-level players have their own personal goals, and the hardest thing is getting those kids to understand that we want you to reach those goals, but we have a team goal that may require you to sacrifice.”
When they were done posing for photographs and had finished parading the state championship trophy around the court late Saturday night, the Pantherettes headed to Dave & Buster’s to continue the celebration. For Ford, it was a rare chance to relax.
“It was a sense of relief,” he said. “We got it done.”
Just as Mann had predicted.
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