Charlie Ward led Florida State to the 1993 national title after winning the Heisman Trophy. (Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Former New York Knicks guard and Heisman winner Charlie Ward is set to become a college basketball head coach.
According to ESPN, Florida A&M is finishing a deal to hire the ex-Florida State star as its next men’s basketball coach. Ward recently served as an assistant coach for USA Basketball during the 2025 Nike Hoops Summit.
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The 54-year-old won the 1993 Heisman Trophy while he was a two-sport star with the Seminoles. Ward played guard for the FSU basketball team while also serving as the football team’s quarterback. In 1993, he completed nearly 70% of his passes for 3,032 yards and 27 TDs with just four interceptions. He also rushed for 339 yards and four scores.
The Seminoles went 12-1 that season and beat Nebraska 18-16 in the Orange Bowl to win the national title after finishing first in the final AP Top 25 of the season. FSU’s only loss came to Notre Dame in November when the Fighting Irish won 31-24 in a matchup of the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the country.
Ward chose basketball over the NFL, however, and was a first-round pick of the Knicks in the 1994 NBA Draft. He played for nine seasons with the franchise before ending his career with the Spurs and Rockets. Ward averaged 6.5 points per game over 580 appearances with the Knicks and shot 41% from the field.
Ward is being lined up to replace Patrick Crarey II after Crarey left the Rattlers to coach Grambling less than a week ago. Crarey was with the school for just one season as the Rattlers went 14-17 overall and 10-8 in the SWAC with a win in the conference tournament.
That record was an eight-game improvement over the 2023-24 season, when Florida A&M went 6-23 and just 4-14 in conference play. The Rattlers haven’t had a winning season since making the NCAA tournament as a No. 16 seed in 2007 as a member of the MEAC.
