Rob Ward Named Soccer Associate Head Coach
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue soccer head coach Richard Moodie has named Rob Ward as the program’s associate head coach on Friday.
Ward joins Purdue after having already spent eight seasons on Moodie’s staffs, including the last seven at South Alabama. Ward is the first member announced to Moodie’s Boilermaker coaching staff.
“I’ve worked with Rob during my tenure as a collegiate coach and he is arguably one of the best recruiters in the game,” Moodie said. “Defensively, he has coached our teams to have one of the best goals-against averages in the country in the last five years, and I am looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish here at Purdue.”
From 2017-23, Ward and Moodie helped South Alabama win seven conference championships, three regular-season and four postseason. They coached their athletes to 19 individual Sun Belt postseason awards and 44 all-conference accolades. Ward and Moodie guided the Jaguars to a 91-36-19 (.688) record during their seven-year tenure.
“I am feeling extremely grateful and excited for this opportunity at Purdue,” Ward said. “A massive thank you to Richard Moodie for giving me the honor of coaching alongside him in the Big Ten. Big thank you also to Mark Foster and Andy Poklad for helping me to grow and develop both on and off the field. I am looking forward to a productive recruiting period in the new year in preparation for a great first season in 2024. Boiler Up!”
As an associate head coach with the Boilermakers, Ward will focus on recruiting, tactical planning and player development. He also will look to build on the success achieved at South Alabama both defensively and with offensive creativity in the final third.
Ward and Moodie began their time at South Alabama with a sweep of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017. The team won another two conference titles, and earned an NCAA berth, in 2019. That was the first of three consecutive Sun Belt Tournament crowns and NCAA bids for the Jaguars, from 2019-21. The 2023 season saw Ward, Moodie and South Alabama win another regular-season Sun Belt championship.
In 2023, South Alabama posted a 16-1-3 record and won the Sun Belt. The Jaguars earned the league’s Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Coach of the Year awards. A 15-0-3 regular season was the first unbeaten season in program history, as USA outscored its opponents 50-7.
With an 11-2-7 record, the 2022 season saw USA once again collect Sun Belt Player, Offensive Player, Newcomer and Freshman of the Year accolades. The Jaguars also were recognized with one Academic All-America recognition.
For the third consecutive season, 2021 ended in the NCAA Tournament after a Sun Belt tournament title. With the nation’s second-highest-scoring offense, the Jaguars posted a 12-5-3 record. Individual honors included the Sun Belt Player, Offensive Player and Newcomer of the Year, along with an All-Region selection and an Academic All-America honor.
USA won its second of three straight Sun Belt postseason crowns in the 2020-21 season thanks to the No. 2-ranked offense in the country. The NCAA Tournament began with the program’s second-ever NCAA victory.
The three-year NCAA Tournament streak began in 2019, which also was South Alabama’s second Sun Belt championship sweep in three seasons under Ward and Moodie. USA swept the postseason awards, winning the Player, Offensive Player, Defensive Player, Newcomer, Freshman and Coach of the Year accolades. A First Team All-Region honor punctuated the campaign.
A Sun Belt Freshman of the Year honor highlighted the 2018 season, and three players were named to the All-Sun Belt Team.
Ward and Moodie’s first year at South Alabama was a memorable one, as they guided the team to two Sun Belt titles, the NCAA Tournament and several major postseason awards. USA collected Sun Belt Player and Defensive Player of the Year accolades, along with a pair of All-Region honors and an Academic All-America award. The Jaguars were 14-6-1 and finished the year with a 14-1-1 mark. The Sun Belt Tournament saw South Alabama outscore its opponents 11-0.
Prior to South Alabama, Ward coached with Moodie for one season at Carson-Newman in 2016-17. With Moodie as the head coach of both the women’s and men’s programs, Ward assisted in recruiting, video analysis, scouting reports and the GPS tracking system.
The Carson-Newman women’s squad won the South Atlantic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and made the NCAA Tournament in 2016. Ward and Moodie earned NSCAA Southeast Region Coaching Staff of the Year accolades.
Ward coached a pair of players, Lauren Wade and Jackie Burns, who are both current members of the Northern Ireland senior national team.
As a player, Ward was a defender at Trevecca Nazarene University and played in 49 games. He scored 10 career goals, including five as a senior, with seven assists in a three-year career.
Ward has an NSCAA national diploma and USSF D, NSCAA goalkeeper level 2 and English FA level 1 licenses.
A 2015 graduate from Trevecca Nazarene with a degree in sport management, Ward earned masters degrees in business administration from Carson-Newman and in health education from South Alabama.
Ward is joined in West Lafayette by his wife, Cori.