Part 2 of 2 (Read Part 1 here: Ex-Knick Charlie Ward continues new(ish) coaching trend at HBCUs)

“It’s all about recruiting, getting outstanding football players,” noted soon-to-be 85-year-old former Florida A&M University (FAMU) head football coach Billy Joe, who talks like he’s 50 but laughs like he’s 30. “You do that and quite frankly, you’re going to be a winner.”

Joe didn’t get to play in Super Bowl III versus the Baltimore Colts because he was injured. Still, he used his bauble to impress recruits. “I always wore my Super Bowl ring and let the players try it on,” stated Joe, the AFL Rookie-of-the-Year (1963) with the Denver Broncos. “Their fathers and mothers also tried it on.”

One new wrinkle of college coaching is the new world order of the NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness). College athletes can now earn money from their likenesses on a t-shirt and the like. That’s something Charlie Ward, the ex-Knick, Heisman Trophy, winner and newly installed basketball coach at FAMU, is going to have to deal with.

“Through the NIL space, some people are just taking the best deal, right?” he declared. “They’re burning bridges to go get what they call the ‘biggest bag.’ Which is not a good mindset long term because it’s the microwave revolution.” Everyone wants it now, but building a team takes patience.

Ward’s Rattler offense will be “free flowing based around our personnel,” while his defense has always been a focus and is always going to be something that you can hang your hat on if you’re going to win consistently.”

Last year’s squad was 14-17. Ward started thinking about coaching when he retired from the NBA after 11 years, following the 2004-05 season playing for Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. He was the starting point guard when the Knicks made their last trip to the NBA Finals –– under Van Gundy –– in 1999. Ward became an assistant coach under Van Gundy (“He opened the door for me.”), and he has never forgotten that. Van Gundy went from being his coach to “my boss” to a mentor.

“We’re connected at the hip because of long-term relationships that were built,” exclaimed Ward, as he and wife Tonja are the parents of Caleb (25), Hope (22), and Joshua (16). Ward turned down the NFL when he learned he wouldn’t be drafted in the first round. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006, but basketball is his calling.

Could an NBA gig be in the future? “That’s not a long-term goal for me,” he admitted. “I am enjoying where I am. I coached high school basketball for seven years at one place. I like to try to stay in one place because just like the guys who are searching for the ‘biggest bag,’ it can become who you are, and you don’t get the most out of where you are.”

Overall, he spent 17 years coaching high school and captured a Class 3A state title at Tallahassee’s Florida High School in 2022. Ward knows exactly where he is now, though in 2018, he had a mini stroke, which put everything in perspective.

“I do believe mine was caused by stress and me eating different things that I probably shouldn’t have,” he revealed. Ward is in good health now and takes care of his body with a little extra help. “Everything you go through is part of God’s plan for your life,” said Ward.

As he starts his first year as the head coach, Ward marvels at where he is right now. “We were out on the recruiting trail, and we’re in the same room as some of the Power 4 schools,” recalled Ward. “I was just thinking, in the movies, how the Power 4 coaches that you recognize are in the movie recruiting players. I joked to my coaches that we’re in the same room as the Alabamas. I tell them that we’re in the movie.

“That’s all you can ask for.”

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