The past month has been a wild one for Pete Lembo.
Ball State's new head football coach has been given the task of rebuilding a program that struggled the past two seasons under Stan Parrish. Since Lembo's hiring on Dec. 20, he has filled out his staff and is focusing on retaining and adding additional recruits in advance of national signing day on Feb. 2.
"It has been incredibly hectic," Lembo said, "so many balls being juggled in the air at one time."
The first task was to retain the recruits Ball State already had. The Cardinals have lost a pair of tight ends in Devin Scott and Ben McCord as well as Collin Perchinske since Lembo was introduced.
Lembo said he understands that not every player who committed to Parrish will make the same promise to the new coach.
"You certainly expect that some of those guys are going to pursue other options," he said. "And certainly that creates a window for other coaching staffs to go in and recruit those guys."
There are also several holes to fill with the remaining scholarships. Over the weekend, the Cardinals received oral commitments from running backs Horactio Banks and Jahwan Edwards.
Ball State is looking to add a third quarterback to join Kelly Page and Keith Wenning. Lembo said he also wants to add depth along the offensive and defensive lines, which the team addressed by adding Ian Anderson at defensive tackle this weekend.
It's possible not every scholarship will be used Feb. 2, Lembo said. Those final two or three players would be added in the weeks following signing day.
The chaos will subside once signing day passes, but he said there is plenty to do for the remainder of the semester.
The questions about Ball State's program won't end next month, either. Lembo's hiring surprised many fans. He wasn't on a lot of radars before being given the job.
Lembo hasn't impressed everyone. Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com called Lembo's hiring the worst of the 21 made in the Football Bowl Subdivision during the offseason.
And no matter what Lembo does, he will likely be compared to "Michigan man" Brady Hoke as well as Parrish.
"That's completely understandable," Lembo said. "You're always going to be compared to your predecessors.
"You have to be yourself. You have to be comfortable with who you are, and you have to believe in your approach."
In regard to his assistants, Lembo brought four coaches with him. Recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach Joey Lynch and defensive backs coach Daryl Dixon are carryovers. A pair of outside hires round out the coaching staff.
"It was the exact mix, the exact blend, that I was hoping for," Lembo said.
There are still two more positions to fill: a defensive coach, likely to lead the safeties, and a strength position.
With everything going on, getting the backing of Muncie and Ball State has been important to Lembo.
"The people on campus and in the community have been so welcoming and so friendly and so helpful and so supportive," he said. "That has certainly made the transition a lot easier."
Lembo said getting to know the players has been one of the best parts of the job so far. He is encouraged by the upbeat attitude the team has.
"You can sense that they're really excited to have a clean slate — a chance to start over in a lot of ways," he said.
Spring practice will begin in March and will be the first chance for Lembo and the players to work together on the football field.
Lembo isn't thinking about that yet.
"Spring practice is two months away, [but] it might as well be 20 years away right now," he said. "There's so many things we need to do between now and then."
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