Thad Ward is in his sixth season, and second stint, as running backs coach at Illinois in 2025. He was elevated to Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach in March 2024. Ward brought over 20 years of college football coaching experience back to Champaign, including three years as running backs coach at Illinois from 2016-18, when he was hired by head coach Bret Bielema in January 2023.

Ward’s running back room was key to the Fighting Illini’s offensive success in 2024, helping Illinois go 10-3, tying the single-season record for wins, and a final ranking of #16 in the AP Top 25. The Illini capped the year with a victory over #14 South Carolina in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, as Josh McCray ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns to earn Citrus Bowl MVP honors and Aidan Laughery added 67 yards on the ground. The Illini’s top four backs – Kaden Feagin, Laughery, McCray, and Ca’Lil Valentine – combined for 1,716 yards and 19 touchdowns. McCray led the way with 609 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns, tied for the 8th-most rushing touchdowns in a single season in Illinois history, while Laughery was right behind him with 589 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns. Feagin averaged a team-high 61.2 yards per game and scored three touchdowns through five games before suffering a season-ending injury, and true freshman Valentine emerged as one of the top freshman backs in the Big Ten, posting more than 200 yards on the ground.

Ward and Illinois' offense ranked in the top five in the Big Ten in total yards (t-4th) and scoring (5th) and led the Big Ten West in both categories during his first season back in the Orange and Blue in 2023. Ward helped guide the emergence of Feagin, one of the top true freshman running backs in the nation in 2023, to All-Big Ten honorable mention status and two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. 

Ward rejoined the Fighting Illini from Kansas State, where he was the wide receivers coach in 2022 for K-State’s Big XII championship team. Kansas State went 10-4, including a 31-28 win over eventual national runner-up TCU in the Big XII title game, and earned a spot in the New Year’s Six (Sugar Bowl) before finishing the season ranked No. 14 in the final AP Top 25. Ward’s wideouts were the top three receivers for the Wildcats, combining for 139 receptions for 1,768 yards and 11 receiving touchdowns, and two were signed to NFL clubs following the season - Malik Knowles (Minnesota) and Kade Warner (Tampa Bay).

Ward has deep roots in the state of Illinois with over a decade of coaching experience in the state. He first spent time in the state of Illinois for six seasons at Western Illinois (2005-10), then for three seasons at both Northern Illinois (2013-15) and Illinois (2016-18).

Between his last stop at Illinois and his previous stop at Kansas State, Ward spent three seasons at Temple (2019-21), where he coached the Owls’ wide receivers and served as the pass game coordinator. He coached Jadan Blue to a pair of All-AAC honors, including the 2019 season when Blue set the school’s all-time record for receptions (95) and yards (1,067), becoming the first player in school history to top the 1,000-yard receiving mark. Opposite Blue, Branden Mack caught 59 passes for 904 yards and seven touchdowns, each of which ranked among the best in school history. In 2021, Ward’s top three wideouts combined for 152 catches for 1,568 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Ward went to Temple following three seasons as the running backs coach for the Fighting Illini. Under the direction of Ward in 2018, running back Reggie Corbin rushed for 1,085 yards and nine touchdowns on 8.5 yards per carry, the third-best mark in the nation. Corbin was the 13th Illini in program history to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a single season and tied with Buddy Young’s 1944 season for the most 70+-yard runs in Illinois single-season history with four.

In 2017, Ward coached freshman Mike Epstein, who was the fifth true freshman in program history to lead the team in rushing yards and also tied for the team lead with four total touchdowns. In his first season with the Fighting Illini in 2016, Ward helped junior running back Kendrick Foster have a breakout year, finishing third in the Big Ten in yards per carry (5.7) and seventh in all-purpose yards per game (110.7). Corbin also had a big season, ranking 14th in the nation in yards per carry among freshmen (6.1), the best mark by an Illini freshman since at least 2000.

Ward went to Illinois following three seasons coaching the wide receivers at Northern Illinois from 2013-15, helping the Huskies to a 31-11 record and three bowl appearances. His success was highlighted by two-time All-MAC honoree Da’Ron Brown, who was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2015 NFL Draft. Brown caught 68 passes for 1,065 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Huskies to the 2014 MAC Championship. He also helped develop Kenny Golladay, drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round in 2017, and Tommylee Lewis, a 2013 All-American who went on to become an undrafted free agent signed by the New Orleans Saints in 2016.

Ward spent the 2012 season at Western Michigan as he developed wide receiver Jaime Wilson into the MAC Freshman of the Year thanks to 67 receptions for 792 yards and six touchdowns.

Prior to WMU, Ward spent one season at Gardner-Webb as the wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator in 2011, which followed six seasons as the running backs coach at Western Illinois from 2005-10. During his time in Macomb, Ward coached three players to All-America status in Travis Glasford (2005), Herb Donaldson (2007 and 2008), and Dre Gibbs (2008). In his final season at WIU, Ward helped the Leathernecks finish with an 8-5 record, which included a victory in the first round of the FCS Playoffs.

Ward began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida A&M before spending two years coaching at Tallahassee Rickards High School in 2003 and 2004, the final year serving as the interim head coach.

Ward played three seasons at UCF from 1999-2001. As a senior, he was the team’s second-leading receiver with 44 catches for 446 yards and a touchdown. In 1999, Ward returned a pair of blocked punts for touchdowns, one at Georgia and the other at Middle Tennessee. He went to UCF after spending two seasons at Coffeyville Community College (Kan.).

Ward earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at UCF in 2001. He and his wife, Jocelyn, have two daughters, Jayda and Journie, and one son, Thaddaeus, Jr.

Coaching Career