University of Alabama-Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...
, Ward played professionally in China for several years before starting his coaching career as a volunteer at Jacksonville State University in
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
. Ward became an assistant at JSU before being hired to Andy Kennedy's staff at Ole Miss. After five seasons with the Rebels, Ward spent two years as an assistant to
Dan Muller
Daniel Cody Muller, generally known as Dan Muller (1889–1976) was a cowboy, an artist, illustrator, and writer of the American West. Having grown up on a ranch, he learned to break in horses, a skill he utilized for the United States Army duri ...
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
, Ward was one of seven people killed in a plane crash just outside Illinois State's main campus.
Murry Bartow
Murry Linn Bartow (born August 18, 1961) is an American college basketball coach who most recently was the interim head coach for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins. As the head coach of the East Tennessee State Buccaneers men's basket ...
. He was not drafted into the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
Yao Ming
Yao Ming (; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Associat ...
Mike LaPlante
Michael McCormick LaPlante (born October 27, 1966) is an American college basketball coach, who coached Jacksonville State University for eight seasons.Jacksonville State University. He then spent the next two seasons as an assistant coach for the Gamecocks before getting hired by
Andy Kennedy
Andy Kennedy (born March 13, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the UAB Blazers men's basketball team. He was head men's basketball coach at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) from 2006 to 2018. Kennedy ...
Ward was killed in a plane crash on April 7, 2015. He was a passenger in a Cessna 414 flying back to Illinois State when the aircraft crashed overnight just two miles east of Central Illinois Regional Airport in
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...
. Also among the seven passengers killed in the crash was ISU deputy athletic director Aaron Leetch. The plane was flying from Indianapolis, Indiana, where Ward had attended the 2015 National Championship Game at
Lucas Oil Stadium
Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It replaced the RCA Dome as the home field of the National Football League (NFL)'s Indianapolis Colts and opened on August 16, 2008. The stadium was ...