As Ball State tries to move on after two blowout losses at the hands of No. 3 Oklahoma and Temple, it must now prepare to play Saturday afternoon at Ohio, the team coach Pete Lembo called the Mid-American Conference's model program.
Lembo singled out Ohio's coaching staff's stability, its roster stocked with upperclassmen and non-conference scheduling strategy as areas he would like to emulate at Ball State.
"In a lot of different areas, I think for us, and we look at people that are doing things the right way, Ohio is a great model for us in terms of where we would like to be in three, four, five years," Lembo said.
Though coach Frank Solich has not won a MAC Championship, bowl game or even 10 games in a season while at Ohio, the Bobcats have never finished lower than fourth place in the East division. He has established the Bobcats as a consistent contender, though not a MAC power.
Solich is 44-38 in seven years at Ohio, and he is tied with Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit for the title of the MAC's longest tenured coach. It is that kind of consistency that Lembo wants to bring to Ball State.
"[Solich] has been there seven years, he's had a great continuity of assistants and I think that's reflected in all three phases of the game," Lembo said. "These guys are in the right places, they're on the same page. They're communicating well with each other."
Five of Solich's assistant coaches, including both co-offensive coordinators Gerry Gdowski and Tim Albin and defensive coordinator Jimmy Burrow, have been at Ohio for at least seven years.
The Bobcats roster is also heavily experienced. Of the 58 players listed on their depth chart, only four have not been redshirted. Lembo has expressed his desire many times to have a roster full of players that have been in the program for four or five years.
"That's the sign of a program that's been built the right way," he said.
Under Solich, Ohio's schedule has usually been composed of one or two schools from automatic qualifying Bowl Championship Series conferences a year, as well as one Football Championship Subdivision team and filled out with other mid-major opponents.
For his part, Solich complimented Ball State, despite its tough last two weeks.
"I see them as a well-balanced football team," Solich said. "One that's able to win the game from an offensive standpoint or a defensive standpoint. And they're very solid on special teams."
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