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[h1]CHARLIE HAS DOUBLE VISION[/h1] [h2]WARD NOW TWO-SPORT COACH[/h2]
[h3]By MARK HALE[/h3]
[img]http://www.nypost.com/seven/06152008/photos/sports087a.jpg[/img]
GOOD MENTOR: Former
KnicksNew York Knicks
guard Charlie Ward, who is head coach of the Westbury Christian football team in Houston, is also the assistant coach of the school's basketball team.
June 15, 2008 -- Charlie Ward's tenure with the Knicks lasted almost a decade, and in 1999, the point guard led Jeff Van Gundy's underdogs to theNBA Finals, where they lost in five games to the Spurs.
Despite the disappointment in the Finals, it was a good career for Ward in New York, following a brilliant one at Florida State. How brilliant? Ward, whoplayed football and baskeball with the Seminoles, was one of the best college athletes of the 1990s, winning a national football championship and a HeismanTrophy in 1993. The Florida State basketball coaching staff called him Saint Charlie.
At a school in Houston, Saint Charlie has become Coach Ward.
Today, Ward has a new job, one that's got him back in school and back in football. Early this year, Ward was named head coach of the varsity footballteam at Westbury Christian School, and when he mans the sidelines for his first game on Aug. 29, Ward will be involved in his own version of Friday NightLights.
No more NBA or NCAA. Now Ward's league is TAPPS - Texas Association of Private Parochial Schools. And it's not Madison Square Garden, theWorld's Most Famous Arena. It's Fun Stadium, a venue with an estimated capacity of 1,500.
"But it has a lot of room," Ward told The Post. "It has stands. But then it has a lot of room on the side if you need."
Ward coaching at the pre-kindergarten-through-12 school in Houston came about because of a meeting in the 2007 NBA playoffs. Westbury Christian's formerassistant basketball coach Gersson Rosas is currently a Rockets employee, and at the time, Ward was a Rockets assistant coach. Rosas invited Greg Glenn, whowas working for Westbury (he's now its executive director), to a Rockets game and Glenn was told at halftime that Ward wanted to meet him. They did soafter the game, and according to Glenn, Ward told him he had heard good things about Westbury.
The next day, Ward dropped by Westbury. In August, he began working there.
"It basically came down to family lifestyle," said Ward, who turns 38 in October. "We were in the process of wanting to be stable, and one ofthe ways to be stable or have some stability is to be in a situation where you're comfortable with administration and comfortable being yourself.That's something that Westbury Christian has offered me the opportunity to do."
Glenn said Ward told him he "was tired of getting on planes and being gone all over the place."
So the former Knick and Seminole ended up as an assistant basketball coach, while also working with the football team.
"I told him that all of our Heisman Trophy winners had to go out and help with football," Glenn said.
The team needs it. It's not like Ward's taking over the
YankeesNew York Yankees
or Lakers, perennial winners. Westbury Christian will be entering its 11th season of football.Total playoff berths? One. Last year? The Wildcats were winless.
As a head coach, Ward has developed his own style. One of the things Ward does is hand his team a word of the day. He gives the players a word such as"commitment" or "purpose," and according to junior Kohlton Fry, the players are supposed to keep that word in their heads on the field.
"The word of the day really centers me and brings me back," fellow junior Jared Jernigan said.
Ward's done other things, too. He's had practices where everyone on the team learned every position, not just his own. He calls his program a"football ministry."
Pat Kennedy, Ward's former basketball coach at Florida State, talks about how Ward "led by great example" in addition to "greatpresence."
Van Gundy went from coaching Ward to coaching
with him. Ward was his assistant for two years in Houston, and Van Gundy said he was impressed withhis coaching ability.
"[He was] a tremendous mentor to particularly the younger player who maybe was not as quite stable."
It remains to be seen whether Ward can turn the Westbury Christian Wildcats around. That mission starts on Aug. 29, Game 1 against Kipp Academy.
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