Ball State University Athletics
Q&A with Assistant Football Coach Justin Lustig
February 17, 2011 | Football
Q: Will you concentrate on the Illinois area as far as recruiting is concerned due to your past coaching experiences?
A: Yes, certainly having past experience in Illinois is going to help with recruiting and the way we have it broken up right now I am going to have the Chicagoland area. Certainly with the connections I made at Eastern Illinois that makes it a lot easier. A big part of recruiting is building relationships and since I had the chance to build relationships for about three years at Eastern it is going to make the transition of recruiting there for Ball State a lot easier.
Q: You have two different hats you are wearing as the coordinator for both special teams and coaching running backs?
A: It is a busy job. The only thing with the running backs is I only have one spot, so it makes it a little bit easier. It is one of those jobs that a lot of times people don't notice unless something goes wrong. I really enjoy it and it is really good that Coach Lembo stresses special teams, so it makes it an ideal situation as a coordinator when the head coach is on the same page.
Q: Ball State football was undefeated in 2008, which was the best regular season in school history. Do you believe you can get this football program back to that caliber?
A: Obviously it is Coach Lembo's job to look at the whole picture. I like to look at things day by day. So each day I am looking at how to make the running backs and the special teams better and how that can contribute to making our team better. I don't tend to look at the big picture as much. I am more of a process guy rather than a goal guy, but hopefully we can have some significant success in the special teams and running backs to get our team where it needs to be.
Q: How did you meet Coach Lembo and how did you come about accepting the job at Ball State?
A: It is a relationship I have had for a long time. I played in the same conference he coached in when he was at Lehigh. I played at Bucknell. There was a position open on his staff at Lehigh when I first started getting into coaching and I applied for it and spoke to him briefly about the position but I was probably not qualified for the job at the time. Then I spoke to him again about another position when he was at Elon and I just started building a relationship with him based on those conversations. So I have known him throughout the years and I think the Patriot league ties is how we first met.
Q: Overall how do you feel about this 2011 class you recently signed?
A: You never know until those guys are on the field or really not until they are least sophomores and juniors or even juniors and seniors. It is yet to be seen how successful we are but we believe we won some battles and beat some other MAC schools on some kids. We think it is a talented class with a lot of character as well.
Q: What is the biggest thing you have learned in your experience of coaching football?
A: I think it is certainly about the players and recruiting is very important. There is a saying in coaching it is about the Jimmy's and Joe's not the X's and O's. So it is certainly important we are getting the right players here and getting the best players we can get. It is about the process. It is about working hard every day and doing the right things. If you are doing the right things in the weight room, in the classroom and socially, then you are going to be doing the right things on the field, which will lead to victories.
Q: How has your experience so far been at Ball State?
A: It has been great working with Coach Lembo and the rest of the staff. I think there is a great chemistry on this staff and we have really gotten along well. I am living with two of the other coaches this last month so that has been fun. Last week was probably the best week we have had since we have been here because we actually got to work with the players in the morning runs and conditioning sessions.
