Ball State Football: A Brief History

Ball State Cardinals:

First Season: 1924

Head Coach: Pete Lembo (2 seasons, 13-10)

All-Time Record: 406-374-32

Bowl Record: 0-6 (California Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl 2X, International Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Beef O'Brady's Bowl)

Playing Field: Scheumann Stadium (Capacity of 25,400)

Conference Affiliations:

• Independent: 1924-1933, 1948-1950, 1968-1973.
• Indiana Intercollegiate Conference: 1934-1947.
• No Team in 1943.
• Heartland Collegiate Conference: 1951-1967.
• Division II Independent: 1973-1974.
• Mid-American Conference: 1975-Current.

Attendance: 13,406 (5-year average)

Claimed National Titles: None

Conference Titles: 10

• 1942 Indiana Intercollegiate Conference Champions
• 1964 Heartland Collegiate Conference Co-Champions
• 1965 Heartland Collegiate Conference Champions
• 1966 Heartland Collegiate Conference Champions
• 1967 Heartland Collegiate Conference Champions
• 1976 Mid-American Conference Champions
• 1978 Mid-American Conference Champions
• 1989 Mid-American Conference Champions
• 1993 Mid-American Conference Champions
• 1996 Mid-American Conference Champions

Record Versus Rivals (20+ meetings):

• Akron: 9-10-1
• Bowling Green: 8-20-1
• Central Michigan: 22-22-1
• Eastern Michigan: 31-21-2
• Kent State: 19-7
• Miami OH: 11-16-1
• Northern Illinois: 20-18-3
• Ohio: 15-8
• Toledo: 18-19-1
• Western Michigan: 18-21

Year-By-Year Record (Since 2001, Division I FBS Era, Joining the Sun Belt)

• 1920s: 16-20-4
• 1930s: 38-36-5
• 1940s: 40-18-7 (Undefeated in 1949: 8-0)
• 1950s: 32-42-5
• 1960s: 52-32-4 (Played in Grantland Rice Bowl twice, tying Tennessee State (1965) 14-14 and losing to Eastern Kentucky (1967), 27-13.
• 1970: 5-5
• 1971: 4-5-1
• 1972: 5-4-1
• 1973: 5-5-1
• 1974: 6-4
• 1975: 9-2
• 1976: 8-3
• 1977: 9-2
• 1978: 10-1
• 1979: 6-5
• 1980: 6-5
• 1981: 4-7
• 1982: 5-6
• 1983: 6-5
• 1984: 3-8
• 1985: 4-7
• 1986: 6-5
• 1987: 4-7
• 1988: 8-3
• 1989: 7-3-2 Lost California Bowl to Fresno State, 27-6.
• 1990: 7-4
• 1991: 6-5
• 1992: 5-6
• 1993: 8-3-1 Lost Las Vegas Bowl to Utah State, 42-33.
• 1994: 5-5-1
• 1995: 7-4
• 1996: 8-4 Lost Las Vegas Bowl to Nevada, 18-15.
• 1997: 5-6
• 1998: 1-10
• 1999: 0-11
• 2000: 5-6
• 2001: 5-6
• 2002: 6-6
• 2003: 4-8
• 2004: 2-9
• 2005: 4-7
• 2006: 5-7
• 2007: 7-6 Lost International Bowl to Rutgers, 52-30.
• 2008: 12-2 Lost GMAC Bowl to Tulsa, 45-13.
• 2009: 2-10 
• 2010: 4-8
• 2011: 6-6
• 2012: 9-4 Lost Saint Beef O' Brady's Bowl to Central Florida, 38-17.

Coaching/Team History:

Starting in 1924, the Ball State Cardinals have seen 16 coaches come through Muncie, Indiana. Coach Paul "Billy" Williams was the very first Cardinal coach winning three games in the first two years of the program. Williams was followed by Norman "Happy" Wann (2 seasons, 10-3-2), Paul "Shorty" Parker (2 seasons, 3-9-2), and Lawrence McPhee (5 seasons, 15-23-1). During those 9 seasons, the Cardinals had 4 winning seasons but started to slip towards the end of Mcphee's reign going 1-6-1 and 2-6 in the final two years.

After parting ways with McPhee, the Cardinals hired coach John Magnabosco (17 seasons, 68-46-14) who was only 6 years removed from playing for Indiana University. Magnabosco ended up the longest tenured head coach in Ball State history coaching 17 seasons for the Cardinals. During his tenure, Magnabosco was a solid coach leading the Cardinals to 9 winning seasons capped by an undefeated 1949 season going 8-0 on the year. Magnabosco coached three more years for the Cardinals but could never find that magic again going 5-15-3 in his final three seasons.

Ball State replaced Magnabosco with George Serdula (3 seasons, 14-9-1) and then Jim Freeman (6 seasons, 18-28-2) before catching fire with coach Ray Louthen (6 seasons, 37-13-3). During his six seasons leading the Cardinal program, Louthen had winning seasons in every year played capped by four consecutive Heartland Conference championship. Louthen left the program after the 1967 season but stayed till 1970 as the Ball State baseball coach.

Starting in 1967, Wave Myers (3 seasons, 15-14) put solid teams on the field but was a bit of a disappointment considering the success of the previous regime. With Myers leaving after the 1970 season, the Cardinals hired Ohio State assistant Dave McClain. McClain (7 seasons, 46-42-3) struggled for his first our seasons with no more than six wins in a season but things changed with a change of conference. In 1975, the Cardinals joined the MAC where McClain went 9-2, 8-3, and 9-2 with a conference title in 1976 and an overall 26-7 record in the MAC. McClain left Ball State to return to the Big Ten as Wisconsin's coach.

Needing a replacement for McClain, the Cardinals hired Colorado assistant Dwight Wallace. Wallace (7 seasons, 40-37) continued the success from McClain's era with a 10-1 record and MAC title in his first year with the program. Thing quickly went downhill later as Wallace never won more than 6 games in his final 6 seasons with the program. Wallace left and became the quarterback coach for West Virginia for the rest of his career.

Again needing a new head coach in 1985, the Cardinals went with previous success and hired Big Ten assistant (Michigan) Pau Schudel to run the program. Schudel (10 seasons, 60-48-4) struggled early but rewarded the faith of the administration with MAC titles in 1989 and 1993. Schudel went 5-5-1 in 1994, his final year as head coach before returning to the Big Ten as an assistant at Illinois.

With so much success taking assistants from Big Ten schools, Ball State hired Indiana assistant Bill Lynch to take over for Schudel. Lynch (8 seasons, 37-53) started out hot with a MAC title in 1996, his second year on the job. Within two years of the MAC title, Lynch led the Cardinals to 1-10 and 0-11 seasons before getting the Cardinals back to .500 football by his final year in 2002.

Dipping back in the Big Ten well yet again, the Cardinals hired Michigan assistant Brady Hoke. Hoke (6 seasons, 34-38) led the Cardinals to losing seasons in the first four years on the job before turning things around in 2007 with back-to-back bowl berths and a 12-2 season in 2008 capped by a trip to the GMAC bowl. Hoke parleyed the great last two seasons to a job out west coaching San Diego State and then moving back to Michigan as head coach.

Needing a replacement for Hoke, the Cardinals decided to stay in house and hired GMAC bowl interim coach Stan Parrish as the new head coach. Parrish struggled with the promotion and was the Cardinals drop from 10+ wins in 2008 to 10+ losses in 2009. Parrish was let go after the 2010 seasons and a 6-19 overall record with the Cardinals.

With the bad two years of Parrish in the past, Ball State went a new route and hired FCS program Elon's head coach Pete Lembo to take over the program. Lembo was impressive at Elon and Lehigh before that with a 79-36 record, 3 I-AA playoff berths and 6 teams finishing in the top 25 in 10 years coaching the programs. Lembo returned the Cardinals to .500 with a 6-6 season in 2011 before leading them to a 9-4 season and bowl berth in 2012. Lembo is only 42 and considered by many as a coach on the rise and could end up at a high profile school in the future.

All-Americans:

• 1975 Shafer Suggs The Associated Press Second Team
• 1968 Amos VanPelt American Football Coaches Association First Team
• 1995-1996 Brad Maynard Walter Camp First Team, American Football Coaches, Association First Team, The Football News First Team, American Football Quarterly First Team, The Sporting News Second Team, Playboy Magazine Preseason First Team, Bob Griese College Football Yearbook Preseason First Team, The Associated Press First Team, United Press International First Team, The Football News First Team, Walter Camp First Team, American Football Coaches Association First Team, College Sports Magazine First Team, American Football Quarterly First Team, The Associated Press Second Team, The Football News Second Team,
• 1972 Doug Bell American Football Coaches Association First Team
• 1979 Rush Brown Newspaper Enterprise Assoc. Second Team
• 1958 Tim Brown Williamsburg Rating Service Second Team
• 1985-1986 John Diettrich The Associated Press Second Team, The Sporting News Second Team, The Associated Press Third Team.
• 1976 Mitch Hoban The Associated Press Third Team,
• 1978 Ken Kremer The Associated Press Third Team
• 1967 Oscar Lubke American Football Coaches Association First Team
• 2006-2008 Chris Miller American Football Coaches Association First Team, Sporting News Second Team, Playboy Magazine Preseason First Team, Playboy Magazine Preseason First Team
• 1973 Terry Schmidt Football News First Team, Kodak (College Division) First Team
• 2004 Dante Ridgeway The Associated Press Second Team, Walter Camp Second Team, Southern Football Weekly First Team. 

Past and Current NFL Players:

• Robert Brewster
• Dan Gerberry
• Darius Hill
• Reggie Hodges
• Michael Chiziek
• Brad Maynard
• Andre Ramsey
• Dante Ridgeway
• Sean Baker
• Justin Beriault
• Blaine Bishop
• Michael Blair
• Rush Brown
• Timmy Brown
• Corey Croom
• Nate Davis
• Maurice Harvey
• Ed Konopasek
• Ken Kremer
• Keith McKenzie
• Corey Parchman
• Bernie Parmalee
• Terry Schmidt
• Art Stringer
• Shafer Suggs