When reports came out that Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson would not return for the 2024 season, the rumor mill immediately kicked into overdrive. The hot name? Former Steelers WR Hines Ward. He’s a franchise legend, he interned with the Steelers and helped out with the wide receiver room, was a wide receivers coach for Florida Atlantic University in 2021 and was even the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL.
So it’s easy to connect the dots, correct? Who wouldn’t want Ward back in Pittsburgh helping instill the same passion and hard-working attitude he brought as a player? Well, Ward may not want to do so. When Gerry Dulac joined Brian Batko on Tuesday’s episode of the Chipped Ham and Football podcast, Dulac speculated that Ward may be put off by his first attempt to coach the Steelers’ wide receivers.
“The only thing that I will tell you, Brian, and I will tell others, would be to not hold your breath,” Dulac said on the possibility of Ward joining coach Mike Tomlin’s staff. “Hines Ward came in a number of years ago… and he helped out the wide receivers to the middle, to the second part of the season. And then he was interested in the wide receiver job when Darryl Drake eventually got that position.”
Ward came in as a coaching intern during the 2017 NFL season. When then-wide receivers coach Richard Mann retired, Ward wanted the job. According to Aditi Kinkhabwala, Ward and Tomlin were deep in discussions and it seemed likely he would get the position. However, one of the biggest personalities in the locker room, WR Antonio Brown, inadvertently threw a monkey wrench into that.
According to Kinkhabwala, Ward wanted the latitude to run the wide receiver room the way he saw fit and be able to hold everyone accountable. Supposedly, Brown had a different set of guidelines and, presumably, there was no working around that on Tomlin’s part. So Drake got the job.
“I don’t think Hines liked the way it was handled in terms of after helping them out and throwing his hat in the ring and basically being ignored for the full-time position,” Dulac said. “I don’t think that sat well with Hines. So I don’t know how much Hines would be interested. Not so much in the position with the Steelers but, based on what happened last time, if he’ll be in a hurry to try and throw his hat in the ring. I don’t want to speak for him, but… I think that didn’t sit well with him at the time. Whether that still would not sit well with him, I don’t know.”
What we do know is that Tomlin spoke highly of Ward when it was announced the latter was a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame last November. Whether Ward has moved on (or if moving on was ever really needed), we don’t know. It will be interesting to see if Tomlin asks Ward interview for the job, and if that happens if Ward accepts.
Regardless, Hines Ward is a beloved member of Steelers history. Most fans would agree that he exemplified what it meant to work hard and bring passion to the field. If Ward could instill that in the extremely talented George Pickens, that would only be a good thing.
You can watch the entirety of Batko and Dulac’s chat below:
