- FAMU has offered a contract to Charlie Ward Jr. to be their new head basketball coach, days after Patrick Crarey II stepped down as head coach.
- FAMU Board of Trustees is set to vote on the deal.
- Watch now to hear the FAMU community react to the news.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Charlie Ward Jr. — He won at Florida State, he won at Florida High, and now he's set to take over the highest of seven hills with Florida A&M men's basketball.
I'm Alberto Camargo, your College Town neighborhood reporter.
Taking the pulse of the Rattler community and digging into the details of the contract that's on the table.
"For FAMU to win Charlie Ward as our next basketball coach, it's a win-win situation."
The excitement among Rattlers has already started building.
Ward has been offered a five-year contract through the 2030 season.
It was supposed to be approved in a virtual Board of Trustees meeting Wed., but a nationwide Zoom outage forced the meeting to be rescheduled for another day.
But thanks to public meeting documents, we can still get a breakdown of the contract terms.
Ward's salary will start at $175,000 and rise by $10,000 each year going forward.
Ward's contract could even be extended by one year for every season that he leads the Rattlers to 17 regular season wins.
The Rattlers haven't won that many games since 2007, the last time they made the NCAA tournament.
Rattlers like Wayne Pye have confidence in Ward to make it happen.
"It's going to take about three years to build a good program, and I think Charlie is the person. He has a great name behind him, he's known worldwide. He's done a lot for the city of Tallahassee."
Ward is a former Florida State football star, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1993.
He also went on to play in the NBA for a decade and returned to Tallahassee to coach Florida High in 2018.
While at FSUS, the Seminoles won a Class 3A state championship in 2022.
It's that track record of success that excites FAMU alum KaRonte Donaldson.
"Obviously he was at Florida High, winning games for them, elevating that program. Now coming back to FAMU to elevate our program, hopefully he can win SWAC championships, playing in the tournament, we can be the next Cinderella story."
As of Wednesday evening, there is no rescheduled date or time for the virtual Board of Trustees meeting.
At FAMU, Alberto Camargo, ABC27.
Update:
Due to a nationwide Zoom outage, FAMU has announced its Board of Trustees meeting will be rescheduled to a later date. Trustees were set to vote on whether or not to approve the contract for the expected new Head Basketball Coach, Charlie Ward Jr.
FAMU says a new date and time will be posted once available.
Original:
FAMU has announced Charlie Ward Jr. as their new head basketball coach. This comes just days after former head coach Patrick Crarey II stepped down with less than one year into his three-year deal.
Ward has been offered a 5-year deal, with him being offered $175,000 in his first year with a $10,000 increase every year after.
The FAMU Board of Trustees is set to vote on the deal during their meeting today beginning at 3:00 p.m.
BACKGROUND:
Per ESPN: Ward, 54, was the 1993 Heisman Trophy winner at Florida State and played in the NBA from 1994 to 2005. He played primarily for the New York Knicks but finished his career playing for both the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets.
He was an assistant coach with the Rockets for two seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07 and a high school head coach in Tallahassee and with USA basketball.
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