THE WARD FILE

PERSONAL

Year in Coaching: 25th in 2026
Year at K-State: Second in 2026
Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida
Education: UCF, 2001 (Bachelor's in Criminal Justice)
Wife: Jocelyn
Children: Jayda, Journie, Thaddaeus Jr.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

2002: Florida A&M (Graduate Assistant)
2003-04: Tallahassee Richards High School (Wide Receivers/Defensive Backs/Interim Head Coach [2004])
2005-10: Western Illinois (Running Backs)
2011: Gardner-Webb (Wide Receivers/Passing Game Coordinator)
2012: Western Michigan (Wide Receivers)
2013-15: Northern Illinois (Wide Receivers)
2016-18: Illinois (Running Backs)
2019-21: Temple (Passing Game Coordinator/Wide Receivers)
2022: K-State (Wide Receivers)
2023: Illinois (Running Backs)
2024-25: Illinois (Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs)
2026: K-State (Associate Head Coach/Wide Receivers)

POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE

2010: FCS Playoffs (Western Illinois)
2013: Poinsettia Bowl (Northern Illinois)
2014: Boca Raton Bowl (Northern Illinois)
2015: Poinsettia Bowl (Northern Illinois)
2019: Military Bowl (Temple)
2022: Sugar Bowl (K-State)
2024: Citrus Bowl (Illinois)
2025: Music City Bowl (Illinois)

A 24-year coaching veteran with deep ties to the Midwest, Thad Ward is in his first season of his second stint at Kansas State in 2026 coaching the wide receivers, while he will be in his first season serving as the program’s associate head coach. He also coached the Wildcat wide receivers during their 2022 Big 12 Championship campaign.

Ward comes back to Manhattan after working the last three seasons at Illinois as the running backs coach, which included the title of assistant head coach during the final two years. Over the last two seasons, he helped lead the Illini to consecutive seasons of at least nine victories and back-to-back bowl wins for the first time in program history. It was his second stint in Champaign as he tutored the Illini running backs from 2016 through 2018.

Aside from K-State, Ward has also coached wide receivers at Gardner-Webb (2011), Western Michigan (2012), Northern Illinois (2013-15) and Temple (2019-21). He also served as the passing game coordinator at both Gardner-Webb and Temple.

During his first season in Manhattan in 2022, K-State earned a 10-4 record, including a 31-28 overtime win over eventual National Championship Runner-Up TCU in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Wildcats finished the season with a No. 14 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 and a trip to the Sugar Bowl thanks in part to its offense, which ranked in the top 10 in school history in 11 categories, including offensive yards (2^nd; 5,863), plays (2^nd; 958) and yards per game (5^th; 418.8).

Ward’s unit claimed the top three receiver spots for the Wildcats that season, combining for 139 receptions for 1,768 yards and 11 touchdowns. Malik Knowles led the way with 48 receptions for 725 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Kade Warner had 46 catches for 456 yards and five scores. Both players signed with NFL clubs following the season as Knowles was picked up by Minnesota and Warner inked with Tampa Bay.

This past season at Illinois, Ward helped Illinois to a 9-4 record, which culminated with a victory in the Music City Bowl, a game in which the Illini rushed for 221 yards, including 150 from the running backs. Ward coached a trio of running backs that combined for 1,503 yards and 14 touchdowns in Ca’Lil Valentine, Kaden Feagin and Aidan Laughery, all three of which logged starts in 2025. Valentine led the way with 614 yards and four touchdowns, while Feagin had 507 yards and a team-leading seven rushing touchdowns.

Ward’s running back room was key to the Fighting Illini’s offensive success in 2024, helping Illinois go 10-3 – tying the single-season record for wins – and a No. 16 final ranking in the Associated Press Top 25. The Illini capped the year with a victory over No. 14 South Carolina in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, as pupil Josh McCray ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns to earn Citrus Bowl MVP honors. The Illini’s top four backs – McCray, Feagin, Laughery and Valentine – combined for 1,716 yards and 19 touchdowns. McCray led the way with 609 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, the latter tied for the eighth-most in a season in Illinois history, while Laughery was right behind him with 589 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Feagin averaged a team-high 61.2 yards per game and scored three touchdowns through five games before suffering a season-ending injury, and true freshman Valentine emerged as one of the top freshman backs in the Big Ten, posting more than 200 yards on the ground.

Ward helped the Illinois offense rank in the top five in the Big Ten in total offense (3rd; 391.0 yards per game) and scoring (5^th; 24.5 points per game) during the first season of his second tenure in 2023. Ward guided the emergence of Feagin, one of the top true freshman running backs in the nation that season, to All-Big Ten Honorable Mention accolades and two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.

Ward’s first stint in Manhattan came on the heels of working three seasons at Temple where he tutored the Owl wide receivers and served as the pass game coordinator. He coached Jadan Blue to a pair of All-AAC honors, including the 2019 season when Blue set the school’s all-time record for receptions (95) and yards (1,067), becoming the first player in school history to top the 1,000-yard receiving mark. Opposite Blue, Branden Mack caught 59 passes for 904 yards and seven touchdowns, each of which ranked among the best in school history.

In 2019, Ward’s wideouts were the top three receivers for the Owls as the position group combined for 152 catches for 1,568 yards and 10 scores.

Ward went to Temple following his first three seasons at Illinois, coaching the Illini running backs. In 2018 under the direction of Ward, running back Reggie Corbin rushed for 1,085 yards and nine touchdowns as his 8.5 yards per carry were the best in the country. In 2017, Ward coached freshman Mike Epstein, who was the fifth true freshman in program history to lead the team in rushing yards and also tied for the team lead with four total touchdowns.

In his first season in Champaign in 2016, Ward helped junior running back Kendrick Foster have a breakout year, finishing third in the Big Ten in yards per carry (5.7) and seventh in all-purpose yards per game (110.7). Corbin also had a big season, ranking 14th in the nation in yards per carry among freshmen (6.1), the best mark by an Illini freshman since at least 2000.

Ward went to Illinois following three seasons coaching the wide receivers at Northern Illinois from 2013 to 2015, helping the Huskies to a 31-11 record and three bowl appearances. His success was highlighted by two-time All-MAC honoree Da’Ron Brown, who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2015 NFL Draft. Brown caught 68 passes for 1,065 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Huskies to the 2014 MAC Championship. He also helped develop Kenny Golladay, drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round in 2017, and Tommylee Lewis, a 2013 All-American who went on to become an undrafted free agent signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2016.

Ward spent the 2012 season at Western Michigan as he developed wide receiver Jaime Wilson into the MAC Freshman of the Year thanks to 67 receptions for 792 yards and six touchdowns.

Prior to WMU, Ward spent one season at Gardner-Webb as the wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator in 2011, which followed six seasons as the running backs coach at Western Illinois from 2005 to 2010. During his time in Macomb, Ward coached three players to All-America status in Travis Glasford (2005), Herb Donaldson (2007 and 2008) and Dre Gibbs (2008). In his final season at WIU, Ward helped the Leathernecks finish with an 8-5 record, which included a victory in the First Round of the FCS Playoffs.

Ward began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida A&M before spending two years coaching at Tallahassee Rickards High School in 2003 and 2004, the final year serving as the interim head coach.

Ward played three seasons at UCF from 1999 to 2001. As a senior, he was the team’s second-leading receiver for 44 catches for 446 yards and a touchdown. In 1999, Ward returned a pair of blocked punts for touchdowns, one at Georgia and the other at Middle Tennessee. He went to UCF after spending two seasons at Coffeyville Community College.

Ward obtained his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at UCF in 2001. He and his wife, Jocelyn, have two daughters, Jayda and Journie, and one son, Thaddaeus, Jr.