In his fourth season at USF, one of the nation's bright, young coaching minds, Bryant Ward, returns to Lelo Prado's staff and will continue to add a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Bulls' coaching staff.
Ward serves as USF's hitting coach and is in charge of overall development for position players. Under his guidance, the Bulls have emerged as one of most potent offensive attacks in the BIG EAST and a lineup that has been headlined by consecutive individual BIG EAST batting titles by Ryan Lockwood in 2008 and Junior Carlin in 2009. Lockwood's .454 clip in conference play is a BIG EAST single season record.
In 2009, USF hit .315 as a team, their highest team batting average since 1997.
In his three seasons with USF, four Bulls position players have been named freshman All-America selections including Lockwood, who was named 2008 College Baseball News Freshman of the Year.
Since his arrival in 2007, eight position players have been All-BIG EAST selections including first team nods to Joey Angelberger and Ryan Lockwood in 2008
A native of Greenville, N.C., Ward was instrumental in the recruitment of USF's back-to-back nationally ranked recruiting classes.
Ward, who head coach Lelo Prado says is one of the best up-and-coming young coaches in the country, came to USF from Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 2006.
While on staff at Cal State Fullerton, the Titans compiled a record of 96-33 during Ward's two seasons, hosting a Super Regional in 2005 and advancing to Omaha in 2006. In 2006 season, the Titans finished the year with a 50-15 record, making the team's 14th trip to Omaha. The Titans finished the '06 season hitting .313 with 43 home runs, while ranking in the top five in each of the year's final polls. In his first season with the Big West Conference power, Ward helped guide the Titans to a 46-18 record and an appearance in the Super Regionals held at the Cal State Fullerton baseball field."
As sad as we were to see Bryant go, we are elated at the opportunity he has in front of him at USF," said Cal State Fullerton head coach George Horton when Ward was hired at USF. "In my opinion they have acquired one of the brilliant young baseball minds in the country and will soon find out how valuable he will be to their program, just as we found out what he meant to ours over the past two seasons."
Before joining the Cal State Fullerton Staff, Ward served as an assistant coach at Pitt (N.C.) Community College from 2003-04. He assisted in all defensive and offensive instruction and development, as well as recruiting.
Ward was a standout infielder for the East Carolina Pirates from 1998-02, playing for the late Keith LeClair. Serving as team captain during his senior season, Bryant helped guide the Pirates to a 182-67 record and four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. He finished his ECU career ranked fifth in games played (194), seventh in at-bats (687) and third in doubles (50).
During his freshman campaign (1999), Ward and the Pirates posted a 46-16 overall record and became the first Colonial Athletic Association team to earn a No. 1 seed at an NCAA Regional.
As a sophomore (2000), Ward once again helped lead East Carolina to a top seed in the NCAA Regionals and captured their second-consecutive CAA crown. In 2001, Ward earned first team All-CAA, second team All-East Region and NCAA All-Wilson Regional honors, while leading the Pirates in batting average (.368) and doubles (22). ECU went 47-13, earning the school's first-ever national seed (No. 7) and finishing just two games shy of reaching the College World Series.
As a senior (2002), Ward guided East Carolina to a 43-20-1 record as a team captain. The Pirates earned a No. 24 national ranking and secured its first-ever Conference USA Tournament title and its fourth-straight NCAA postseason appearance.
