Report: Steelers legend Hines Ward hired as receivers coach at Arizona State

Former Georgia Bulldogs and Pittsburgh Steelers star Hines Ward is getting back into coaching.

Ward has been hired as the wide receivers coach at Arizona State, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Hines Ward has prior college coaching experience as the receivers coach at Florida Atlantic in 2021. He was most recently a head coach in the UFL.

Ward will work under Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham, who is entering his second season leading the Sun Devils program.

As for Hines Ward, he played at Georgia from 1994-97, earning first-team All-SEC honors as a senior in 1997. The Bulldogs went 10-2 that year, beating Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl. He caught 55 passes for 715 yards and six touchdowns that year, including 12 receptions for 122 yards against Wisconsin.

Ward was then picked in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He ended up spending his entire career in Pittsburgh, winning a pair of Super Bowls, including a Super Bowl MVP.

He is the Steelers all-time leading receiver with 12,083 yards.

Kenny Dillingham fires back at college coaches complaining: ‘Yeah, it’s hard. Then quit.’

Kenny Dillingham did not mince words about the state of working as a coach in college football these days.

With guys leaving for the NFL as assistants, and even assistant jobs in college football, there are questions about profession. With the transfer portal, NIL and other factors still in its early days and evolving, coaches are bailing, make no mistake.

However, Dillingham fired back at anyone leaving and the Arizona State coach is here to stay.

“I literally spent nine years of my life doing anything to become a coffee boy,” Dillingham said, via Sarah Kezele of AZ Sports. “So, don’t give me the ‘Oh, it’s hard to be a coach right now.’ Yeah, it’s hard. Then quit.”

Some recent examples, and they don’t necessarily reflect Dillingham’s comments, are Ryan Grubb to the Seahawks and Chip Kelly to Ohio State as the OC.

Grubb was the OC at Washington and was expected to follow Kalen DeBoer to Alabama in the same role. However, he ended up going to the Seahawks as the OC under new coach Mike Macdonald.

The bigger example might be Kelly. He left his head coaching job at UCLA for a coordinator gig with the Buckeyes. That was a little more stunning on the surface.

Now, Dillingham said don’t complain about how it’s hard to be a coach right now. Kelly didn’t necessarily do that, but the situation at UCLA seemed dire. The school was expected to fire him right before or after the end of the season. However, that didn’t happen.

Now, he has less pressure as a CEO coach and program runner at Ohio State. He’ll simply just coach football.