By Anna Bella Ramirez
November 16, 2024
MUNCIE, Ind. – Ball State University has announced today a change in football leadership, with Mike Neu ending his nine-year term as the Cardinals’ head coach, following a 3-7 start to the 2024 season.
Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell also announced that offensive line coach Colin Johnson will serve as interim head coach for Ball State’s two remaining contests this season, including next Saturday’s final home game against Bowling Green. Johnson, like Neu, is a Ball State football alum.
A national search for the next Ball State head football coach will begin immediately.
“Coach Neu has poured his heart into the Ball State football program,” said Mitchell. “I commend him for his professionalism and the positive team culture he has constructed. His efforts have greatly impacted the lives of hundreds of young men. He has represented the Ball State brand with integrity and class, and I wish him well in future pursuits.”
Neu, with one year left on a contract that was extended following a bowl season in 2021, guided the Cardinals to wins this season over Missouri State, Kent State and Northern Illinois. He leaves Ball State with a career record of 40-63.
A decorated quarterback at Ball State from 1990-93, Neu boasts 158 games of Ball State football history under his belt as head coach (103), graduate assistant (11) and player (44). He quarterbacked the Cardinals’ MAC championship and Las Vegas Bowl team in 1993, and was inducted into the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.
He was appointed to lead the Cardinals’ football program in 2016 following two seasons as quarterbacks coach of the New Orleans Saints, and his leadership sparked a resurgence that led his alma mater to a 2020 MAC title, an Arizona Bowl victory and a No. 23 national ranking to cap his fifth season. The Cardinals earned a bid to the Camellia Bowl in 2021, but the past three years under Neu have produced a 12-21 ledger. His lone winning season was a 7-1 campaign in 2020.
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