Thad Ward has been named new wide receivers coach at Kansas State. He is replacing Courtney Messingham after he was relieved of his duties soon after the regular season finale.

That finishes an offseason of coaching changes in Manhattan. The dismissal of Jason Ray also led to the hiring of new tight ends coach Brian Lepak. And Collin Klein was promoted to offensive coordinator after a strong Texas Bowl performance as the interim.

Ward was previously at Temple where he held the title of wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for the past three seasons. He helped develop Jadan Blue while at Temple, who had the first 1,000-yard receiving season in the history of the Owls' program.

When head coach Rod Carey was fired during the 2021 season, Ward was named the interim head coach and was retained by new head coach Stan Drayton after the search for a new football boss.

Before his stop at Temple, Ward spent 2016-2018 at Illinois where he was the running backs coach.

Ward is originally from Tallahassee, Florida and played at UCF after starting at Coffeyville Community College where he was coached by current Kansas State running backs coach Brian Anderson.