Several former Pittsburgh Steelers players hold coaching jobs at college and NFL levels. Just this past February, former CB William Gay was hired as an assistant with the Washington Commanders, for example. There could be another joining the ranks as a coach, with Chris Karpman of 247 sports reporting that Hines Ward is being considered for Arizona State’s WR coaching position.
This wouldn’t be the first coaching position he has held, however. Most recently, he was the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas in 2023. Prior to that, he was with Florida Atlantic as the WRs coach in 2021. He was also an offensive assistant with the New York Jets in 2019 and 2020 and a coaching intern with the Steelers in 2017.
Earlier this offseason, Ward was in the running for Texas Southern’s head coaching job, but they ultimately went in a different direction. According to the report, Ward isn’t the only person in the running for the job at ASU, as former New England Patriot Troy Brown was also interviewed.
Here is a clip of ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham discussing the search for the next WR coach, posted by SunDevilSource on YouTube.
Ward is a candidate to replace Ra’Shaad Samples who recently accepted a position at Oregon to be their next running backs coach.
With 14 seasons in the NFL, several Hall of Fame nominations, and multiple Super Bowl championships—including a Super Bowl MVP—Ward would make a fine coach to any program. He was once almost hired as the Steelers’ WR coach. If the reports are to be believed, he didn’t get the job because he wanted to be able to discipline all of his players the same. That would include Antonio Brown, who was apparently already operating under his own set of rules at the time.
Just a few months ago, the media mentioned him as a possible candidate to replace former Steelers WR coach Frisman Jackson after the team let his contract expire. They ended up hiring Zach Azzanni instead.
The Sun Devils have struggled lately with back-to-back 3-9 seasons. Dillingham was hired in 2023 after Herm Edwards was the head coach for five years. Arizona State will be one of the former Pac-12 teams making the move to the Big 12 for the 2024 season. A change of scenery and some new coaches on the staff could help turn things around.
