Ball State University Athletics
Top Stories of 2015-16: Mike Neu Returns as Football Head Coach
June 13, 2016 | Football
MUNCIE, Ind. – The second of the top 10 storylines from the 2015-16 season is the hiring of Mike Neu as the Ball State head football coach. The announcement was made on Jan. 7 and created quite a buzz out of the Cardinal football faithful.
Neu, a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, started 38-of-41 games at quarterback in his four seasons at Ball State (1990-93). He led the Cardinals to the MAC championship as a senior and to a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Neu has 15 years of coaching experience with stops in the National Football League (NFL), Division I FBS football and the arena leagues. Most recently, Neu served as the quarterbacks coach for the NFL's New Orleans Saints in 2014-15. In 2014 under Neu's guidance, quarterback Drew Brees was selected to his franchise-record eighth Pro Bowl as a Saint. Brees led the league in completions (456), tied for first in passing yardage (4,952), ranked second in completion percentage (69.2) and tied for fifth in touchdown passes (33). In 2015, Brees once again led the NFL in passing yardage (4,870) while ranking second in completion percentage (68.3) and completions (428).
After playing professionally for three years in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Arena Football League (AFL), Neu jumped into the coaching ranks in arena football. He served as the head coach of three arena teams – Augusta Stallions (2000), Carolina Cobras (2002) and New Orleans VooDoo (2004-08) – before returning to the collegiate ranks in 2012 as Tulane's quarterbacks coach.
If spring football was an indicator, this year's football team should feature an up-tempo, attacking offense with a young, talented quarterback in sophomore Riley Neal at the helm. Neal started the final nine games of the 2015 season and piled up 2,276 yards passing to go along with 16 touchdown tosses.
On defense, the Cardinals return numerous key players including All-MAC first team honorees in defensive lineman Joshua Posley and linebacker Sean Wiggins.
Ball State opens the 2016 campaign on Friday, Sept. 2 at Georgia State. The home opener is slated for Saturday, Sept. 17 against Eastern Kentucky and will be broadcast on ESPN3 beginning at 3 p.m.
For the most up-to-date news on the Ball State football team, please follow @BallStateSports, @BallStateFB and @BSUCoachNeu.
