In recent weeks, Ball State has found success on the tennis courts, in debate halls and on the baseball diamond. Those accomplishments deserve more attention than they get, but nevertheless, the responsibility for gaining exposure for the school and paying all the extracurricular bills falls on just two programs. Unfortunately, for years now the football and men's basketball squads have been mired in mediocrity.
With the Cardinal and White game coming up Saturday, let's start with the football team. The Cardinals haven't had a winning season since 1996 and have gone 28-62 since then. In a 26-game stretch from 1998 to 2000, the team won one game. It was during this streak that alumnus David Letterman started showing "Fighting Football Cardinal Highlights" on the Late Show (the segment would be introduced with a band and graphics and, if Ball State lost 42-3 for example, they'd show the Cardinal field goal, then immediately end the highlights with more band music).
Ball State has a 6--17 record since Brady Hoke and his staff arrived for the 2003 season. While this is bad, Hoke deserves some leeway. In 2003, the team was 4-8, but it was Hoke's first year as a head coach, and the players had to learn a new system. Last season (2-9), the Cardinals also faced a tough non-conference schedule (Boston College, Purdue and Missouri), and their most experienced quarterback, Joey Lynch, entered the year having thrown exactly three passes.
In 2005, the team must show improvement. Despite opening the year with four incredibly tough games (Iowa, Bowling Green, Auburn and Boston College), it's reasonable to expect at least three to five wins this fall. If that's achieved, Hoke will at least have progress he can point to and should be poised to lead the program to the next level. If it's not, it's still too early to think of a change, but at the end of the upcoming season, the grace period is surely over.
Meanwhile, though the men's basketball team hasn't struggled as much, it certainly is a long way from the glory days. Between 1988 and 1995, the Cardinals won four Mid-American Conference titles, making trips to the NCAA Tournament each year. In 1990, the team made it to the Sweet Sixteen before losing by two points to eventual national champion UNLV.
Coach Tim Buckley arrived in 2000, and the next year led Ball State to the Elite Eight of the NIT. But the year after, Ball State suffered its first losing season in 14 years. The next season, it suffered its second losing season in two years. Last month, it lost in the first round of conference tournament, and hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament in five years.
But there is cause for hope. The basketball team did improve last season, managing a winning record (15-13) for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. And to be fair, it should be noted that Dick Hunsaker, who from 1989 to 1993 coached some of the best Cardinal teams, had to resign amidst allegations of providing improper benefits to players. If the program's unprecedented success in that period was ill-begotten, then it'd be better to be honest and average, but it'd be so much sweeter to be honest and great.
It's been a long time since Ball State's had a big winner in the premier college sports. The time for that to change is now.
Write to Jake at
jymoore@bsu.edu
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