10 Questions with Mike Ward

Mike Ward is entering his second season as assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator with the University of Toledo football team. Before joining the Rockets, Ward worked at rival Bowling Green State University for 16 years, spending his final two seasons there as a defensive coordinator. A native of Mansfield, Ohio, Ward earned a degree in health and physical education from Georgetown College in 1984.

First things first, do you still have any orange apparel in your closet at home?

(Laughs) no, no, no. I actually turned it all back in to the equipment room there.

How did you get into football?

My father was a high school assistant coach at Mansfield Senior High School and later became the first head coach at Mansfield Malabar High School, so I've been around it all my life.

You and UT head coach Tim Beckman go back a long way, to when Tim was playing at the University of Findlay and you were an assistant there in the late 1980s and later when you were on the same staff at BGSU. What's it been like working with him for so long?

I think I know what he wants. We have a good relationship off the field and we have the same goals, same aspirations, and I think we work well together.

What's the best part about being a football coach?

Seeing the players grow from freshmen to seniors, play their best football their senior year and get a college degree.

What are the elements of a successful defense?

Attacking and swarming to the ball and creating takeaways.

What's the best part about Toledo?

The people and the support we receive here.

How do you unwind away from the football field?

With my wife [Jody] and two daughters [Michaela and Addison] by our pool.

If you weren't coaching, what would you be doing?

Looking for a coaching job (laughs).

What's your favorite meal?

Steak on the grill at my house.

Where's your favorite place to vacation?

A beach house somewhere in the Outer Banks in North Carolina.