Pittsburgh Steelers great Hines Ward set to be hired as ASU's WR's coach
Following the loss last weekend of wide receivers coach Ra'Shaad Samples to Oregon, ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham was looking to make a splash hire to fill that vacancy. Earlier this week, he interviewed three-time Super Bowl champion and former New England Patriots wide receiver Troy Brown, which proceeded to a meeting with another multiple Super Bowl champion, former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward.
Devils Digest has learned from multiple individuals with knowledge of the situation that following those interviews Ward is poised to be hired as ASU's new wide receivers coach.
A 14-year veteran who spent his entire NFL career with the Steelers, a tenure that began in 1998 when he was a third-round selection in the draft, Ward became the team's all-time leader in receptions (1,000), receiving yardage (12,083), and touchdown receptions (85), and upon his retirement in 2011 was one of eleven NFL players then to have at least 1,000 career receptions. Ward was voted MVP of Super Bowl XL and also won Super Bowl XLIII with Pittsburgh. The wide receiver was a four-time Pro Bowl selection and was voted to the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Honor.
As a wide receiver for the University of Georgia Bulldogs (1994–1997), Ward's 149 career receptions for 1,965 yards placed him second in team history. He also played tailback and totaled 3,870 all-purpose yards during his playing days in Athens, second only to Herschel Walker in Bulldogs history.
Ward began his coaching career in 2019 as an offensive assistant for the New York Jets, working with wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson. In 2021, Ward was hired by Florida Atlantic as special assistant to the head coach and coaching wide receivers for the Owls. In 2023, he was named the head coach for the UFL's San Antonio Brahmas (2023).
Ward inherits a strong stable of wideouts in Tempe, headed by senior and All-Pac 12 Honorable Mention selection Elijaha Badger, as well as fellow seniors Xavier Guillory, Melquan Stovall, and Jake Smith, along with junior Troy Omeire and sophomore Jordyn Tyson. ASU added one wide receiver in the 2024 class, Zechariah Sample, who is set to arrive at ASU in the summer.
Samples was involved in the recruitment process of several Texas players on the ASU roster, and his formidable recruiting connections to the Lone Star State will be a challenge for Ward, or anyone of the ASU staff for that matter, to replace as the Sun Devils begin their first season in the Big 12 conference in the fall of this year.
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