Arizona State is finalizing a deal Saturday to hire NFL legend Hines Ward as receivers coach, a source told 247Sports.
Ward replaces Ra’Shaad Samples, who was recently hired away by Oregon as running backs coach. Ward was most recently the head coach of the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas. He also coached receivers previously at FAU for one season in 2021.
The two-time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers was an All-Pro receiver three times and also earned four Pro Bowl appearances. He was Super Bowl XL’s MVP after catching five passes for 123 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown from receiver Antwaan Randle El in the 21-10 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
Ward, who is likely set to be a Pro Football Hall of Famer, retired after 15 seasons in the NFL in 2011. He finished with 1,000 catches for 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns — all with the Steelers.
Ward started coaching in 2017 as an intern with the Steelers and was hired as a full-time assistant with the New York Jets in 2019.
Ward resigned after a 3-7 season leading the Brahmas in 2023.
Ward was a superstar at Georgia, playing three positions while excelling at receiver. He briefly played quarterback in his sophomore year and still holds Georgia’s bowl game record for pass attempts, completions and yards in the Peach Bowl in 1995, when he completed 31 of 59 throws for 413 yards. He finished his Georgia career with 3,870 all-purpose yards, second only to Herschel Walker.
Samples’ departure surprised Arizona State last week. He had spent only one season on the Sun Devils’ staff, which was led by second-year coach Kenny Dillingham.
“It hurt my heart,” redshirt sophomore receiver Jordyn Tyson said. “He’s the one who brought me here. And he’s from the crib. I had a good bond with him.”
Samples, 29, was the youngest running backs coach in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 after stints as a running backs coach at SMU and TCU.
“When you think of Coach Samples, this is a guy who’s been an assistant head coach in college football from the time he was 26,” Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham said last year. “He’s been the youngest position coach in the NFL. This guy will be the youngest head coach in college football someday. It will happen. There is no doubt in my mind he’s going to be. He’s ready for it. He could go run a program today. I don’t know if somebody is going to hire somebody that young. … But if somebody did, they could hire him today and he’d go run a football program.”
Samples helped Arizona State wide receiver Elijhah Badger earn All-Pac 12 honorable mention recognition last season and helped Ulysses Bentley become a Freshman All-American running back at SMU in 2020.
“He’s a young dude, but he has a presence,” Dillingham said of Samples in 2023. “He has leadership. He’s not a young dude where everyday kids walk over him. He’s a guy who has kids in the meeting rooms with him early. He’s a guy who is hard on guys. He’s a guy who has a standard.”
