Veteran coach Ed Ward joined the NJIT baseball staff in 2001, having spent 12 successful seasons as an assistant at the NCAA Division I level and then successfully starting a Division II program as head coach.
Ward's NJIT duties include instructing the hitters and the team has twice set new records for team batting average, the latest in 2006, when the Highlanders batted .317 and belted out a record 32 homers. Previously the bench coach, he was named third base coach for the 2006 season. He also oversees the program's recruiting and outfield instruction.
Prior to joining NJIT, Ward was the first head coach at Division II Felician, which won 34 games in his two seasons, including wins over three nationally-ranked DII foes and one Division I squad, while reaching the conference playoffs both years. Prior to Felician, he spent 12 years as an assistant at Division I Fairleigh Dickinson, where 18 of his recruits went on to sign professional contracts.
He recently completed his 10th season as a men's basketball assistant at Montclair State, including a 14-game stint as interim head coach, during which he led the Red Hawks into the 2005 conference playoffs when head coach Ted Fiore was on medical leave. In 2002-03 Montclair won the conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen with Ward on the bench.
He has also coached high school baseball and basketball, is a certified baseball umpire and holds a 25-year Service Award with the American Baseball Coaches Association and the New Jersey State Baseball Umpires Association.
A sought-after coach and lecturer at baseball and basketball camps throughout the region, Coach Ward directs baseball camps around the calendar. He is director of the Golden Falcon Baseball Camp for boys and girls (K-8th grade); director of Improve Your Skills Baseball Camp for high school boys (grades 9-12) and during the winter, runs the Improve Your Skills Pitchers/Catchers Camp and winter hitting camp.
The Elizabeth, NJ, resident received a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from Kean College in 1981.
