Ball State University Athletics
Football Reaching Milestones Under Coach Lembo
December 08, 2014 | Football
Ball State head football coach Pete Lembo is the first head mentor in the school's 91-year history to win 30 games in his first four seasons at the helm.
Lembo, who has led the Cardinals to two bowl games and a 30-20 overall record in his first four campaigns, passed the mark of 26 wins set by Dwight Wallace in his first four years from 1978-81. In addition, Lembo's .600 winning percentage with the Cardinals is the second best among Ball State head coaches through their first four seasons at the helm in Muncie, Ind. Ray Louthen has the only better winning percentage with his 23-9-2 (.705) mark from 1962-65.
Ball State hired Lembo prior to the 2011 campaign and of the 24 coaches hired at that time, 13 finished the 2014 season as that school's head coach. Of those 13, only four had a better record than Lembo in their first four seasons – David Shaw (Stanford, 41-12), Mark Hudspeth (Louisiana-Lafayette, 35-16), Rocky Long (San Diego State, 32-19) and Brady Hoke (Michigan, 31-20).
Among the winningest Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches with less than five years at the FBS level, Lembo is third in terms of victories with 109 in his career. He also ranks seventh amongst that group in winning percentage with a 109-56 career mark (.661).
In Lembo's four years, Ball State has set or tied 63 school records and produced the all-time leading rusher and passer in the 91-year history of the school's football program. The Cardinals have posted four of the top seven highest scoring seasons in program history under Lembo.
Ball State's football program was recognized by the American Football Coaches Association as one of only 13 schools in the country to graduate at least 90 percent of its student-athletes in the latest NCAA Graduation Success Rate Report. In addition, during Lembo's tenure the football team tallied a 968 on the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate in 2011-12, which was the highest in the MAC and the highest for a Ball State football team since the APR's inception in 2003-04.
Under the guidance of Lembo, the Cardinals own a 21-11 Mid-American Conference record in the last four years and have signature non-conference wins over Indiana (twice), Virginia and South Florida. Ball State's 2015 non-conference schedule includes VMI at home Sept. 5, at Texas A&M Sept. 12, home with Middle Tennessee Sept. 19 and at Northwestern Sept. 26.
