Ball State assistant to become D-II head coach

<p><em>PHOTO PROVIDED BY BSU PHOTO SERVICES</em></p>

PHOTO PROVIDED BY BSU PHOTO SERVICES

Justin Lustig

Position - Asst. Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator/RBS

Alma Mater - Bucknell

Years Coaching - 15

Years Coaching at Ball State - 5

Ball State football assistant head coach Justin Lustig has been named head coach at Division-II Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Lustig began his coaching career in 2001, and this will be the first time in his 15-year career where he will be a head coach.

He has been the Cardinals’ special teams coordinator and running backs coach since 2011 and, before the 2015 season, added assistant head coach to his list of titles. He told the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel he was proud to have coached at Ball State for 5 years.

Justin Lustig

“It was the first time in my entire career that I was a part of a student-athlete’s recruiting all the way through his graduation,” he said. “In coaching, that is kind of rare because you’re not at a place four or five years that often.”

Lustig coached special teams and running backs during his time at Ball State. In 2015, Ball State finished 12th in the nation with 25.5 yards per return and 13th in punt return average with 18.0 yards per return. Running back Darian Green also led the Mid-American Conference with 1,497 all-purpose yards.
The Cardinals’ all-time leading rusher, Jahwan Edwards, was also recruited and coached by Lustig.

Edwards holds the school record for most rushing touchdowns scored in a career.

Lustig grew up in Erie, Penn., and said his familiarity with the region enticed him to take over a Fighting Scots program that went 0-11 in 2015 and has endured four consecutive losing seasons.

“We know the recruiting geography of where they are going to get kids,” Lustig said. “But not only where they’re going to get kids, but what kind of kids we’re going to get.”

His wife, Beth, has even more familiarity with the school – she played soccer for the Edinboro.

Keeping with the family affair, Lustig also hired his father, Keith Lustig, to be an assistant on the Fighting Scots staff.

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