Kris Ward (born November 20, 1979) is an American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach. He was most recently the head coach of the

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

(NWSL).

Coaching career

Ward re-joined

as an assistant coach in August 2020. After the Spirit's former head coach Richie Burke was suspended in August 2021, Ward served as acting head coach for the rest of the 2021 NWSL season and led the team to an

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

. In December 2021, Ward was named the permanent head coach. On August 22, 2022, with the team holding a record and on 12 points, second-fewest in the NWSL, the Spirit announced that Ward had been relieved of his duties with six games remaining in the season. On January 24, 2023, it was revealed Ward was banned from coaching in the NWSL due to abusive conduct while with the Spirit.

Coaching honors

Washington Spirit *

: 2021

References

External links

*
LinkedIn profile
1979 births Living people Union University alumni Washington Spirit head coaches Washington Freedom (soccer) non-playing staff St. Mary's Seahawks American soccer coaches National Women's Soccer League head coaches {{US-footy-bio-stub