Football
Stan Parrish left the Ball State football program following the 2010-11 season, where he led the team to a 4-8 overall record.
Then Athletic Director Tom Collins hired Pete Lembo in December 2010. In his first season with the team, Lembo coached Ball State to a 6-6 record with a 4-4 mark in Mid-American Conference play.
The team increased its win total in each of the next two seasons under Lembo. The 2012 team finished with a 9-4 record, while the 2013 team finished with a 10-3 record.
The 10-win season was just the third in Ball State history. Senior quarterback Keith Wenning led a record-breaking offense.
The Cardinals completed the most passes in school history with 299, and accrued a school-record 501 total points.
With appearances in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl and the GoDaddy Bowl, Ball State competed in back-to-back bowl games for the second time in school history.
Lembo received a five-year contract extension and a pay raise in March 2014, following approval from the Ball State Board of Trustees.
Men’s basketball
Athletic Director Bill Scholl announced March 14, 2013, that Billy Taylor wouldn’t return for his seventh season as men’s basketball coach.
In a phone interview, Scholl said there wasn’t one measurement making or breaking the season, but things weren’t progressing fast enough to let Taylor finish out his contract.
“What we were looking for was had the program developed to the point where we could legitimately say we were consistently competing for [Mid-American Conference] Championships,” Scholl said at the time. “I think we were looking for an indication as the season played out whether we were gaining on that goal, and in the end the sense was we hadn’t.”
On April 10, 2013, Scholl and university President Jo Ann Gora introduced James Whitford as the 19th head coach in Ball State history in front of a sizable crowd in the Alumni Lounge.
There was a buzz in the room as Gora opened with statements about returning the program to an era of greatness and Whitford echoed that excitement.
“When the Ball State job opened up, my mouth was watering and I was itching in my seat to get the job,” Whitford said.
In his first season with Ball State, Whitford led the team to a 5-25 overall record, and a 2-16 mark in MAC play.
Baseball
Before Athletic Director Bill Scholl was hired, the Ball State baseball team was in the middle of a season that would end at 14-36, its third straight finish with a record of .500 or below.
Scholl introduced Rich Maloney as Ball State’s head baseball coach on June 22, 2012. Maloney previously coached at Ball State from 1996 until 2002.
For him, the hire was a chance to reunite with old acquaintances.
“When you look at all the friends, and I mean, I have so many friends,” Maloney said. “How many guys get to leave a place to chase a dream — because I always had a dream of going to Michigan — [and] be successful for 10 years and through an uncanny series of events be able to have the opportunity to come back to a place that you love and where you’re very well received.”
In his first season back with Ball State, Maloney led the team to a 31-24 overall record. Ball State’s turnaround from 2012 to 2013 was eighth-best in the NCAA.
Softball
Former coach Craig Nicholson was hired at Arizona State on June 30, 2013. He led Ball State to three regular-season MAC championships, and finished with a sub-.500 record just once in his seven years with the team.
Nicholson said he was excited to join the Sun Devils — a perennial contender for the Women’s College World Series.
“It’s exciting to be able to go somewhere that you can kind of keep being successful instead of trying to build success,” he said.
Following Nicholson’s departure, Scholl hired former Western Kentucky coach Tyra Perry.
Perry hoped to bring a small ball style of play to Ball State.
“The style that I like to play works around the table-setters,” she said in August to the Daily News. “I love that saying, ‘Speed never slumps.’ It always shows up to the ball field.”
Since joining the program, Perry holds a 27-16 overall record, and a 7-3 record in the MAC.
Women’s basketball
Following the resignation of Kelly Packard after back-to-back 9-21 seasons Athletic Director Bill Scholl hired Brady Sallee in May 2012.
Sallee quickly found success with the team. In his first season, Ball State earned the No. 5 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, and made it to the Sweet 16 of the WNIT in 2013.
When his team was 3-10 and on the cusp of yet another disappointing season, Sallee didn’t ever feel pressured by Scholl.
“He was there in the good and the bad,” Sallee said. “And the first one to pat me on the back and say ‘Brady, we see what you’re doing. We see how it’s coming together, and it’s not showing up in wins yet, but keep believing. We’re believing.’ He was a great ambassador for me and the program.”
In his second year with the program, Sallee led Ball State to a 18-17 overall record and an appearance in the MAC Championship game and WNIT first round.
Gymnastics
Former head gymnastics coach Nadalie Walsh left Ball State on June 29, 2013, after six seasons with the team. She was hired by Utah State following a 6-11 season with Ball State.
An athletics media relations major confirmed to The Daily News on Aug. 21, 2013, that Ball State hired Joanna Saleem. She had previously worked as a volunteer with the team.
Brooklyn Schumacher, then a junior on the team, said Saleem was a great candidate.
“She’s got a super light spirit in the gym,” Schumacher said at the time. “That’s really nice to work with. I know last year we all really appreciated it because [balance beam] had been a hard event for us.”
Saleem coached Ball State to a 3-11 overall record in her first season with the team.
Women’s tennis
Max Norris was named the fifth women’s tennis head coach in Ball State history Dec. 8, 2013. He had previously served as an assistant coach at Alabama.
Norris studied at Ball State and worked as a student assistant for the men’s tennis team in 2009-10. He volunteered for the team in 2008.
Athletic Director Bill Scholl said in a press release that he was glad to hire someone with a Ball State history.
“He has a background in tennis throughout the Midwest and was a part of our tradition rich men’s tennis program for a few years,” Scholl said. “He is a former collegiate student-athlete and has experience with some of the top tennis programs in the country. We are looking forward to his joining the Ball State family.”
Norris led Ball State to a 16-8 record in his regular season with the team. Ball State’s 6-2 record in MAC play was the best in school history.
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