Former Georgia legend Hines Ward is back in the college game, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that Ward will be the new wide receivers coach at Arizona State.

Ward last coached in college for FAU during the 2021 season. He has also worked as an assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets. In 2023, he was the head coach of the San Antonio Brahmas of the XFL. He went 3-7 in his lone season in charge.

Ward played at Georgia from 1994 through the 1997 season, playing primarily as a wide receiver for Georgia. He then went on to have a lengthy career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Ward was a popular name amongst Georgia fans for the wide receiver opening this offseason, which came open after Bryan McClendon left to become the wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But instead of hiring the former Bulldog, Kirby Smart — a teammate of Ward’s at Georgia — elected to bring back James Coley.

Coley has previous working experience with Smart, as he coached with Georgia from 2016 through 2019. He worked as a wide receivers coach, quarterbacks coach and ultimately offensive coordinator.

Coley spent the previous four seasons at Texas A&M before returning to Georgia. He was set to be South Carolina’s wide receivers coach before Georgia plucked him away.

“James Coley has been on our staff before and understands the standard and the expectations,” Smart said earlier this spring of hiring Coley. “Which is part of the main reason we hired Coach Coley was the fact that I knew he knew the standard, he knew how things operate here, he’s a really good recruiter, he’s a great teacher.”

Coley was one of four new assistant hires made by Smart this offseason. Josh Crawford takes over for Dell McGee as the team’s running backs coach, Donte Williams is the new defensive backs coach for the Bulldogs after Fran Brown departed for the Syracuse head coaching position.

Travaris Robinson is Georgia’s new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator, as he steps in for Will Muschamp. The latter is still on staff at Georgia, only he is now working as an analyst.

Saturday will be the first time fans can see the four new assistant coaches for Georgia, as the Bulldogs hold their annual spring game. G-Day starts at 1 p.m. ET and will air on SEC Network+.