STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State head coach David Taylor announced Monday that former OSU wrestler Kevin Ward is joining the wrestling program as an assistant coach.

Most recently working at Army West Point for the past 11 years, Ward has served as a collegiate head coach since the 2010-11 season. He was part of the Cowboy wrestling team from 2001-2006, winning a Big 12 title at 157 pounds and earning recognition on the NWCA Scholar All-America team three times. He also served as an OSU graduate assistant the year following his final season of competition.

"I'm excited to welcome Kevin Ward back to Oklahoma State Wrestling," coach David Taylor said. "Kevin was part of four NCAA team titles as a Cowboy wrestler, helped start a successful program from the ground up at Ouachita Baptist and has been a consistent force at Army for more than a decade. His return to the wrestling room here at OSU is going to help us reach our goals for the highest levels of success on and off the mat."

Ward's coaching accolades include being named the 2014 NCAA Div. II Coach of the Year, the 2019 EIWA Coach of the Year and a finalist for the 2019 NWCA National Coach of the Year.

"It's hard to put into words my appreciation for the opportunity to come back to Oklahoma State," Ward said. "It's where my college wrestling and coaching careers started, and it's a program that has given me so much over the years. The opportunity to give back to the program is something that's really special for me and I'm thrilled to join Coach Taylor and his staff.

"Coach Taylor has energized and elevated the program, and he has a vision for Oklahoma State Wrestling that is inspiring for everyone involved. I'm looking forward to working alongside all the great coaches, athletes and supporters of Oklahoma State Wrestling. Our goal is to be the best program in college wrestling and to be a destination for the most driven and motivated wrestlers in the country. I'm excited to get to work."

In 11 seasons at Army West Point, Ward led the Black Knights to a 59-53 dual record and coached 54 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships. In his first year, his team defeated Navy to snap a 17-year winless drought. His tenure at Army also included seven wins over Navy and four-consecutive Star Series victories over the Mids from 2016-17 to 2019-20, as he became the first coach in program history to accomplish that feat.

Last season, Ward's Army team sent seven wrestlers to the NCAA Championships to mark the most for the program since 2021 and the second-most in program history. Army was 8-3 in dual matches during the season and went 5-2 vs. EIWA opponents. Other season highlights included Army's first dual win over a power conference opponent since 2019-20, a 22-10 win over Navy and a team championship at the Southern Scuffle in Ward's hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

When Ward took the reins of the program, Army had not sent seven cadet-athletes to the NCAA Championships since 1987. He led the team to achieve that mark in 2018-19 on his way to earn 2019 EIWA Coach of the Year honors and be named a finalist for the Division I National Coach of the Year by the NWCA. He then followed that with two more seasons of seven NCAA qualifiers to establish a program-record streak of three years.

Before being hired by Army, Ward had his first head coaching job building a program from scratch at Ouachita Baptist University. As the first head coach of Ouachita Baptist's wrestling program, Ward led the Tigers to top-15 finishes at the NCAA tournament in each of the program's first four seasons. He coached 10 All-Americans and two NCAA finalists, Dallas Smith and Josh Myers, during his time at Ouachita.

He was named the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year after guiding the Tigers to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships and an 8-5 dual match record in his final season there in 2014. Five of his wrestlers claimed All-America honors that year, including Myers, who was the national runner-up at the 141-pound weight class.

Ward was also a successful fundraiser for the Ouachita Baptist wrestling program. He helped raise more than $300,000 in donations to the program during his four-year stint. Over his first two months at Ouachita, Ward led the renovation effort of the team's weight room, which hadn't been updated in nearly 30 years.

An accomplished wrestler at Oklahoma State who twice qualified for the NCAA Championships, Ward started his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Cowboys during the 2006-07 season while earning his master's degree in health and human performance.

Ward graduated from Oklahoma State with a bachelor's degree in sociology in 2005 and a master's degree in health and human performance in 2007.

Along with his coaching duties, Ward has served on the NWCA Executive Committee and Board of Directors, as well as handling the role of Vice President-elect of the Division II Coaches Association. Ward and his wife Hannah have two sons, Holt and Hank, and a daughter, Margot.