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Illinois to hire former Illini, Kansas State assistant as newest RB coach, per report
By Ethan Stone
Published:
Illinois is expected to hire former RB coach Thad Ward back to the program to coach running backs once more. Ward worked this past season as Kansas State’s wide receivers coach.
Ward was Illinois’ running backs coach from 2016-2018. Prior to working at Kansas State, Ward was hired at Temple to be their passing game coordinator. He took the WR coach job for the Wildcats in 2022.
Before his first stint at Illinois, Ward worked at Gardner-Webb, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois as wide receivers coach for each program.
Sources: Kansas State wide receivers coach Thad Ward is finalizing a deal to become the running backs coach at Illinois. Ward is the former RB coach at Illinois from 2016-18. He’s been at Temple, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 30, 2023
Ward will replace Cory Patterson, who left with former Illinois DC Ryan Walters to Purdue.
Ethan Stone was an editor for his student newspaper at the University of Tennessee and is now a News Manager for Saturday Tradition.