Kansas State football expected to bring back Thad Ward as assistant
MANHATTAN — Kansas State football is reportedly bringing back a familiar name to serve as Collin Klein's associate head coach and to lead the wide receivers.
Thad Ward is expected to be hired by the Wildcats, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel reported on Jan. 1. Ward has spent the last three seasons as Illinois' running backs coach under Bret Bielema, and was given an assistant head coach title before the 2024 season.
Ward was Kansas State's wide receivers coach in 2022 , when Klein was offensive coordinator, and the Wildcats won the Big 12 championship.
Ward has gathered success as a running backs coach in recent seasons, helping the Fighting Illini rank among the best rushing teams in the Big Ten.
During his last stint in Manhattan, the Wildcats had three wide receivers combine for 139 yards, 1,768 yards and 11 receiving touchdowns, with Malik Knowles and Kade Warner eventually signing with NFL teams.
He also coached wide receivers at Temple (2019-21), Northern Illinois (2013-15), Western Michigan (2012) and Gardner-Webb (2011). His NIU wide receivers included eventual NFL standouts Kenny Golladay , Tommylee Lewis and Da'Ron Brown.
Ward is the second coach with Fighting Illini ties to join the Kansas State staff, along with Cory Patterson, who will serve as the team's running backs coach. Patterson coached Illinois' running backs from 2021-22 and was responsible for the development of current Cincinnati Bengals starting running back Chase Brown.
Klein's inaugural staff at Kansas State is almost complete, with two notable openings as of Thursday afternoon. Klein has yet to name an offensive coordinator and a tight ends coach. The transfer portal opens on Friday, Jan. 2.
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_ , contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Thad Ward expected to return to Kansas State football as coach
