Mike Ford

Mike A. Ford (born 18 November 1965) is an English rugby league and rugby union coach, and former rugby league footballer.

Ford played in Castleford's 12–28 defeat by Wigan in the 1992 Challenge Cup Final.

Ford is a Castleford Tigers Hall Of Fame inductee.

Ford moved to South Queensland Crushers but played just 15 games there.

Ford made his début for Warrington on Wednesday 1 November 1995, and he played his last match for Warrington on Monday 8 April 1996, he made his début for Wakefield Trinity during the 1996 season, and he played his last match for Wakefield Trinity during the 1997 season.

Coaching career Bramley (rugby league) In 1999, Ford joined Bramley as a player-coach, and joined Oldham in a similar role a year later. He retired from playing in 2001 after guiding Oldham to the championship Grand Final. Whilst at Oldham, he started coaching rugby union at Dukinfield RUFC for 5 seasons, winning a cup and two promotions.

Ireland (rugby union) Ford left Oldham to take over as Defensive Co-ordinator of Ireland in January 2002 and stayed for 4 seasons, winning a triple crown and helping guide Ireland to 3rd in the world rankings. In September 2004, he started working as a defence and skills coach at Saracens, before taking over as head coach in August 2005.

British & Irish Lions (rugby union) He served as a defence coach for the British & Irish Lions midweek team on their 2005 tour to New Zealand, remaining undefeated in 7 games (the test side lost the series 3–0). He left his position with Ireland in September 2005.

England (rugby union) In May 2006, Ford became defence coach of England, part of the coaching team that guided England to the 2007 World Cup Final. With Ford as defence coach England conceded the fewest points in the 2009 Six Nations (70) and the fewest tries in the 2010 Six Nations (5), and the fewest tries in the pool stages of the 2011 World Cup.

Bath (rugby union) Deciding not to seek a renewal of his England contract, Ford joined the coaching staff at Bath Rugby. He became head coach at Bath in May 2013 and guided them to a Champions Cup spot and an Amlin Challenge Cup final. In 2014/15 Bath finished 2nd in the Premiership and lost in the Premiership Final to Saracens. Ford was awarded the Aviva Premiership Director of Rugby of the Year award in 2015 while his son George won Player of the Year. He left Bath in May 2016 after they had finished 9th in the league.

Toulon (rugby union) Ford joined Toulon as head coach in October 2016 but left at the end of the 2016/17 season. He then announced his move to the Dallas Griffins. Shortly after he joined Leicester Tigers where he remained until the conclusion of the 2020–21 season.

Belgium (rugby union) In 2022, he coached the Belgium national rugby union team.

Oldham (rugby league) On 12 November 2025 he took on the role of head-coach for Oldham RLFC in the RFL Championship following the exit of Sean Long

After Oldham's defeat to London Broncos on 1 February 2026, Ford announced his immediate departure from the club stating "it has become clear that the direction of travel of the club is not something that I feel I can be a part of."

Executive career In 2023, Ford led a consortium that purchased his hometown team, Oldham R.L.F.C., and acted as interim head coach until the end of that season.