As a coach, Tyrus Ward always hopes his players take something from each practice, each experience.
But recently, it was Ward who became the sponge, soaking up every thing he possibly could from a trip to work with the Carolina Panthers as part of the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, a program designed to give talented coaches opportunities to “observe, participate, gain experience and ultimately gain a full-time NFL coaching position,” according to the league’s website.
Ward, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s outside linebackers coach, was one of about 100 people — from a pool of close to 1,000 candidates — selected for the program. He’s the third UTC coach to receive the opportunity, with Chris Cook and Oscar Rodriguez chosen prior to the 2018 season.
Cook — like Ward, he’s a UTC alumnus — later spent a year as an offensive quality control assistant with the Denver Broncos and is now an assistant at Duke, while Rodriguez is currently at Kansas.
Ward missed the first week of UTC’s preseason camp because he was in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the Panthers. He came back from the experience calling the franchise a “first-class organization.”