Charlie Ward wasn’t thinking about college basketball.
The former NBA player and 1993 Heisman Trophy winner had carefully planned out his next few years. He was going to coach one more season at Florida High School, where he had been since 2018, and then shift his attention fully to the Charlie Ward Champions Ranch, a multi-purpose facility he has been developing in Tallahassee that will offer youth and families a unique blend of athletics, education, recreation, wellness, performing arts and life skills.
It was mid-April and Ward was in Portland coaching Team USA at the Nike Hoop Summit when he received a text message from Angela Suggs, the athletic director at Florida A&M University (FAMU), an HBCU in Tallahassee. The two spoke on the phone shortly after and Suggs expressed her desire to make Ward the next head coach of the men’s basketball team. “She said that I was the first call and the last call that she was going to make,” Ward told Hoops HQ.
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Ward was very content with his situation; in fact, the opening at FAMU was the only NCAA job that he was willing to consider. It appealed to him for several reasons. One, he didn’t have to relocate to a new city. Two, his wife Tonja was on board with the change. And three, the Ward family has strong ties to FAMU — Charlie’s parents met there as undergraduate students in the late 1950s and his older sister is also an alumni. Charlie was actually born in FAMU’s on-campus hospital, which is now the Foote-Hilyer Administration Building.
Following that initial call with Suggs, everything happened quickly. Three days later, they connected again to discuss the job in more detail. In the meantime, Ward had begun reaching out to potential assistants to gauge their interest. “I wasn’t going to be able to do it without the right staff,” he says.
The position was presented to him on a Wednesday. By Saturday, he knew that he was going to take it and was scrambling to find an agent. And less than two weeks after the opportunity materialized, Ward was officially introduced as the Rattlers’ new head coach. He made it clear right away that FAMU was not a career stepping stone; rather, it was meant to fortify his long-term commitment to the Tallahassee community.
As a kid growing up in the mid-1970s, Ward made regular trips to FAMU’s Gaither Gym to watch Rattlers’ star Clemon Johnson, who was selected in the second round of the 1978 NBA Draft. Ward would become quite the athlete himself, starring in both basketball and football. He played point guard and quarterback at Florida State between 1990-94. On the gridiron, he was a two-time ACC Player of the Year and the ‘93 Heisman Trophy winner. On the court, he led the Seminoles on two deep NCAA Tournament runs (Sweet 16 in 1992, Elite Eight in 1993) and averaged 8.1 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 steals in four seasons. He remains the program’s all-time leader in career steals (236).
“I don’t have college coaching experience, but I have quite a few other experiences,” Ward says, “and then bringing other people around that do have college coaching experience helps us keep going.” Ward hired Jarrod Lazarus, who most recently served as an assistant coach and the director of basketball operations at FSU, as associate head coach, among others who have been around the college game.
Ward went on to be taken with the 26th pick in the 1994 NBA Draft. He spent 12 seasons in the league, most of them with the New York Knicks. Upon retiring, he immediately transitioned to the sidelines, first serving as an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets from 2005-07. He has since coached both basketball and football at the high school level. Florida A&M is his first collegiate job.
The new staff faces the major challenge of turning around a program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2006-07. In four years in the SWAC, the Rattlers have gone 30-40 and won just one conference tournament game.
Resources and money are limited at FAMU. Most of the revenue goes back into the program to improve the player experience, although Ward notes that the administration is working “to have some form of rev share and NIL mix to give our guys an opportunity to be a part of that world.”
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The Rattlers are coming off arguably their best season in almost two decades. Under coach Patrick Crarey, who left for SWAC rival Grambling State in April, they finished 14-17, their highest win percentage since 2008. But the team lost a bulk of its production this offseason, with reigning SWAC Player of the Year Sterling Young (17 points per game) and his backcourt mate Milton Matthews (14.8 points per game) both transferring to bigger programs.
Ward has a difficult task ahead of him, but he has the utmost confidence in the people and the foundation at FAMU. That confidence is obviously mutual. What Ward lacks in college experience, he more than makes up for in knowledge of the game and proven leadership ability, going all the way back to his days as a Seminole. He was co-captain of the FSU football team in 1994 and the floor general of a Knicks squad that advanced all the way to the 1999 NBA Finals. Three years ago, he guided Florida High to its first state championship since 1963. “The athletes may change in some form or fashion, but the preparation, the accountability, the work ethic, all of those things don’t change,” Ward says.
He takes a holistic approach to coaching, one that includes an emphasis on academics and helping players navigate internships, jobs and other business opportunities. Throughout his coaching career, Ward has utilized acronyms to get his messages across, each one centering around similar principles. At FAMU, he is building a culture based on PACE (preparation, accountability, competitive spirit/commitment, effort/execution) and LEADS (lose excuses, excel at your role, attitude of gratitude, discipline, sacrifice). “The sentence is, ‘our PACE LEADS to success,’” Ward explains. “One of the things that I’m most excited about is that this group embodies all of the ‘PACE LEADS’ characteristics.”
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Ward’s roster doesn’t have a standout, but it is well balanced and deep. He has been particularly encouraged by the level of competition at summer sessions, as well as the chemistry his players have been developing. There is a strong, collective desire to push the program forward.
Four months ago, Ward wasn’t thinking about college basketball. Now he is fully immersed in it, preparing his team for the 2025-26 campaign. The change was abrupt, but not overwhelming. At Florida A&M, Ward is right at home.
“Sometimes I have to sit and think, man, I was just coaching high school basketball a couple months ago, and now I’m coaching college basketball,” Ward says. “But things haven’t changed. These guys are a little bit more mature, but they still need leadership and guidance. Just being able to come to the building that I passed through a couple times and passed by a lot of times, being in this office that I’m currently in now, I’m grateful. That’s really all I can say.”
