The Ball State University Athletics Department Wednesday afternoon officially announced that Dave Boos has resigned from his job as head coach of the Ball State women's volleyball team, effective Friday.
Boos' assistant coach, Marci Peniata, will serve as interim coach until a permanent replacement is hired.
Boos or his players were not made available to comment as of Wednesday morning.
Boos is also rumored to head to the University of Florida and serve as an assistant coach, sources say. Boos served as current Florida head coach Mary Wise's assistant coach on the 2006 USA A-2 Women's National Team.
Mary Howard, associate athletics director for communication at Florida, said late Wednesday afternoon that, "We are not releasing anything today."
Boos' initial three-year contract with Ball State ended in late-January, but he told The Ball State Daily News in December that he was offered a one-year extension with the school through the 2010 season.
However, when The Daily News requested to obtain a copy of Boos' new contract in February through a public records request, it was turned down because the Office of University Compliance said it did not exist.
Boos completed his third season as the Cardinals' coach Nov. 20, 2009 with a 3-1 loss to Ohio University in the Mid-American Conference Tournament Quarterfinals. He had compiled a 32-62 (17-31 MAC) career record at Ball State.
Boos was named the fifth coach in the program's history Jan. 8, 2007, when he replaced longtime coach Randy Litchfield. Boos came from the University of Minnesota, where he spent five seasons as an assistant coach and later as associate head coach.
His career at Ball State had seen improvement each season. In the 2007-08 campaign, his first season, the Cardinals finished 5-25 (4-12 MAC) with a mostly depleted roster left over from Litchfield's final team. In 2008-09, Ball State improved to 12-21 (6-10 MAC), and with his first two full recruiting classes in place, the Cardinals finished 15-16 (7-9 MAC) in 2009-10.
"Coach Boos has done a good job building the women's program and improving their national rankings," Ball State men's volleyball coach Joel Walton said. "He's done a good job recruiting."
Boos' five-player recruiting class for the 2010-11 season included four players who were named to the PrepVolleyball.com 2010 Senior Aces "The 150" list as the top 250 recruits nationally. The other player was on the "Just Missing List," landing right outside the top 250.
"He struggled because his team has been young, but I felt this upcoming year was going to be a breakthrough year," Walton said. "I would guess one of his hardest decisions is leaving the players that he recruited. For every coach there is a bond between him and their players. Breaking that bond is difficult for every coach."
Whether or not these recruits will still play at Ball State at this time is unknown.
Boos also was in the process of hiring an assistant coach after his top assistant coach, Hugh Hernesman, left in December to become co-head coach at Northwestern State University with his wife, Stephanie, a former Ball State volunteer coach.
For continuing updates on this story, check back with bsudailynews.com, and for complete coverage, check out tomorrow's edition of The Ball State Daily News.
Staff Reporter Nathan Pace contributed to this report.
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