The Jets named Hines Ward as an offensive assistant coach prior to the start of the regular season, and despite a 14-year playing career with the Steelers -- one that includes two Super Bowl rings and a Super Bowl MVP --- the 43-year-old was clear on Friday where his allegiances will lie when his current team takes on his former one on Sunday.
"I want to win," Ward said. "I want to be beat the Steelers as much as anybody in this building. Trust me. I'm telling my guys they've got to win this one for me. I want the Gatorade shower and all that if we win."
In his first year as a full-time assistant coach, Ward has been tasked with working with the Jets receivers. After retiring from playing, he had previously been a coaching intern with the Steelers before a spell with the short-lived Alliance of American Football as a player relations executive.
With 1,000 receptions and over 12,000 receiving yards to his name, there's no doubt that Ward's presence in the Jets' locker room commands respect. But rather than boast about his on-field accomplishments, he chooses to take a more mentoring approach to Gang Green's young receiving corps.
"I want them to look at me as a guy who is trying to help them get better, a coach," Ward said. "We discuss some life situations and stuff like that. That's been valuable, hearing it from somebody who has been through it and how I came out the other side of it. That's when guys gravitate to me."
But given the success Ward had in his career both individually and as a member of the Steelers, he is still hungry to try to help players get to that same level as a coach.
"I've been to the pinnacle," Ward said. "I've been to the mountaintop. I've gotten everything I've wanted out of football. I want to share that knowledge with younger guys. That's the whole reason I wanted to get into coaching."
Well, that, and an upcoming matchup on Sunday that he's likely had circled on the calendar since he was hired.
"Right now, I want to beat Pittsburgh bad," Ward said.