Illinois is losing running backs coach Thad Ward as new Kansas State head coach Collin Klein puts together his first staff at his alma mater.

January 1, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Thad Ward is leaving Illinois to become an integral part of the coaching staff of first-year head coach Collin Klein at his alma mater of Kansas State.

IlliniGuys.com can confirm Ward has agreed to become the new wide receivers coach and associate head coach at Kansas State. ESPN senior reporter Pete Thamel had this news first.

Ward just finished his third season as the running backs coach on Bret Bielema’s coaching staff in his second career stint with the Illini program. Ward was hired by Bielema in Jan. 2023 as the running backs coach and was promoted to also have the title of assistant head coach in March 2024. Long before Bielema arrived in Champaign-Urbana, Ward spent three years as running backs coach from 2016-18.

Ward’s running back room was key to Illinois’ offensive success in 2024 as the Illini’s top four backs – Kaden Feagin, Aidan Laughery, Josh 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, including 114 yards and two touchdowns in the Citrus Bowl win over South Carolina while Laughery was right behind him with 589 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns while also having a productive Cirtus Bowl game. Feagin averaged a team-high 61.2 yards per game in 2024 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.

After McCray transferred to Georgia following 2025 spring workouts, the Illini rushing attack too a step backwards in the 2025 season finishing 13th in a 18-team Big Ten Conference in rushing yards per game. However, in his final game leading the running backs room on Tuesday night, Illinois (9-4) finished the 30-28 victory over Tennesseee in the Music City Bowl with 221 yards rushing on 39 carries including five different ball carriers getting five yards per attempt.

Klein, A 2012 Heisman Trophy finalist and member of KSU’s ‘Ring of Honor’ for his playing career in Manhattan, Kansas, was hired by his alma mater as the program’s 36th head coach on Dec. 4 just days following the retirement of Chris Klieman. Klein, in his 12th year in coaching - nine of which have come at K-State but most recently the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M for that program’s first ever appearance in the College Football Playoff, has brought Ward back to the Wildcasts program after he was the wide receivers coach in 2022 during Kansas State’s Big 12 championship team. Kansas State went 10-4, including a 31-28 win over eventual national runner-up TCU in the conference title game, and earned a spot in Sugar Bowl before finishing the season ranked No. 14 in the final Associated Press 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).

Under the direction of Ward in 2018, Illinois 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 led Mike Epstein to be 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 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.

The news of Ward’s departure marks both running backs coaches in Bielema’s 2025 coaching staff leaving the program as assistant James White, who just finished his first season at Illinois and played for Bielema at Wisconsin before an eight-year National Football League playing career with the New England Patriots, accepted the high school head coaching position at Benet Academy in Lisle, Illinois.