Lorenzo Ward served as South Carolina’s defensive coordinator for six seasons under Steve Spurrier. He will now work in the Upstate for Dabo Swinney and Clemson. Ward, who had been the defensive coordinator at FCS Chattanooga in Tennessee since 2019, has joined the Tigers’ staff as a special assistant to the head coach, according to TigerNet’s David Hood on Wednesday night.
A team representative told The State on Thursday that he had not gotten official notification of Ward’s employment because Clemson’s coaches are currently on the road recruiting. Ward, however, is already listed as an employee in the university staff directory as “Special Assistant to the Head Coach, Football” and has altered his profile photo on X (previously Twitter) to one of him wearing an orange Clemson polo shirt.
Ward, 57, has close links to Swinney. They were teammates at Alabama during the 1990 season — Swinney as a wide receiver, Ward as a safety and linebacker — and Ward also served as a graduate assistant for Swinney’s squad in 1991. They had previously talked favorably of each other.
Ward was Spurrier’s defensive coordinator at South Carolina from 2009 to 2015, and he has also worked as a position coach at Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Fresno State, Louisville, and the NFL’s Oakland Raiders. Swinney has recently hired several senior coaches as special assistants. Ted Roof, the long-time defensive coordinator, was a special defensive assistant for the 2021 season, while Chad Morris, the former Clemson offensive coordinator, was a special offensive assistant in 2023.
