Hines Ward Hired as WR Coach at Arizona State

Former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward will be the next wide receivers coach at Arizona State. With the Sun Devils, Ward will coach under second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham and first-year offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo.

Ward had been a finalist to be the next head coach at Texas Southern earlier this offseason, but the Tigers instead moved forward by hiring former Houston Oilers cornerback and XFL defensive coordinator Cris Dishman.

Ward had been the head coach of the San Antonio Bahamas of the XFL in 2023, but was pushed out after the league merged with the USFL and contracted, forming the eight-team UFL for the 2024 season. Wade Phillips, who had been the head coach of the Houston Roughnecks team that was contracted by the league, is taking over for Ward in San Antonio.

That made Ward a free agent, and had some speculating that he might return to the Pittsburgh Steelers as a wide receivers coach. Ward was a coaching intern with the Steelers in 2017 and spent two years with the New York Jets as an offensive assistant before moving to FAU and then the XFL. The Steelers did change over their wide receiver coach this offseason, moving on from Frisman Jackson and hiring Zach Azzanni.

Ward is a Forest Park, Georgia native and played his college ball with the Georgia Bulldogs before being selected in the third round by the Steelers in the 1998 NFL Draft. He finished his 14-year career with 12,083 yards, 85 touchdowns and has been an eight-time Hall of Fame semifinalist.

This story has been updated to correct an error.