Oklahoma State names assistant James Dickey interim coach

Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder has named James Dickey the interim basketball coach after "mutually parting ways" with Travis Ford, reports Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World.

It is the first time Dickey has served in this role. Dickey kept the roster together during the 15-day period from the Sean Sutton firing to Ford's hire. The 46-year-old Ford posted a 12-20 record this past season, the program's worst in 29 seasons.

Dickey, 61, is in his second stint with the Cowboys. He spent six seasons in Stillwater from 2002-08 then left to become the head coach at Houston in 2010. After four seasons and a 64-62 record, Dickey resigned from the position and headed back to OSU.

"I think the players trust (Dickey) and like him," Holder said, "and he, along with me, we’ll do what we can to reassure those kids. We'd like for this to be a speedy process but who knows how long it's going to take.

"I'd be nervous if I was a player, so we want to calm their fears and get a new leader in here and give him an opportunity to talk to them, reassure them that better days are ahead for OSU basketball and we're still committed 100 percent to putting a team out there that will make everybody proud and they'll enjoy being a part of."

Dickey also led Texas Tech to its best record in program history with a 30-2 mark, including an undefeated record in the Southwest Conference in 1996. He went 166-124 with a .500 record in conference play in 10 seasons at Tech.