Ball State University announced Ronny Thompson as its next basketball coach at a 2 p.m. press conference today.
Thompson, son of Hall-of-Famer and former Georgetown University coach John Thompson, has been an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas for the past three seasons. The Razorbacks finished the 2005-06 season with a 22-10 record, clinching an eighth-seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Bucknell in the first round.
Thompson replaces former coach Tim Buckley, who was reassigned after six years with the Cardinals.
The search for a new coach began three weeks ago and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins said the new coach would likely earn a salary between $160,000 and $170,000, the average salary of a Mid-American Conference coach.
By the end of last week, one of Ball State's top candidates Brad Brownell pulled out of the running after accepting the head coaching position at Wright State University. Collins also met with University of Illinois' Tracy Webster, Louisiana State University coach John Treloar, University of Iowa's Craig Neal and University of Memphis coach Tony Barbee during the Final Four weekend in Indianapolis.
Thompson has been involved with basketball since a young age. He played collegiate basketball under his father's reign at Georgetown from 1989 to 1992 and then went on to become an assistant coach at the University of Oregon, Loyola University (Maryland) and at Georgetown.
One of Thompson's main responsibilities at Arkansas was improving on the team's post play. He was also used heavily in recruiting and player development.
One of Thompson's first responsibilities at Ball State will be trying to convince several players to stay with the team, including MAC Freshman of the Year Maurice Acker. The point guard said last week that the coaching hire determined whether he would stay with the team or transfer to Marquette University.
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