Not surprisingly, a veteran SEC assistant has landed on his coaching feet, albeit on the other side of the country.
Fresno State confirmed Tuesday that Tim DeRuyter has added Lorenzo Ward as his defensive coordinator. Ward had spent the past seven seasons as the defensive coordinator/co-DC at South Carolina.
With Will Muschamp replacing Steve Spurrier and bringing in his own staff, however, it opened the door for DeRuyter to land a very experienced coordinator for the Bulldogs.
“We are very happy to be adding a coach with Lorenzo’s experience to our football staff,” DeRuyter said. “Lorenzo has a great passion for this game and mentoring young men. He has a wealth of experience having been a coordinator in the SEC as well as having coached in the NFL. His experience will greatly benefit our team and I know that he is excited about becoming a Bulldog as we return to competing for championships in 2016.”
This will mark Ward’s second collegiate job west of the Mississippi River. The first? At Arkansas in 2008. Ward moved on the the Gamecocks the next season, where he was the sole coordinator for his first six seasons before sharing those responsibilities with Jon Hoke in 2015.
Ward began his coaching career at Alabama in 1991 as a grad assistant, eventually spending seven seasons (1999-2005) at Virginia Tech as secondary coach. He was an assistant with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders in 2006.