A Letter from Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell: Upward Trajectory

Cardinals Fans:

As we close the 2025-26 athletics calendar and look ahead to the start of our fall seasons, the most concise tone I can project is that Ball State athletics is on an upward trajectory.

Before I delve into reasons for my positivity, it's important that I encourage an attitude of support following the recent tragic death of football student-athlete Gavin Yates-Lyons while he was home in Florida after the spring semester. As our football coaches, staff and players tackle the challenge of moving forward from this tragedy, please be thoughtful and understanding. Gavin was a promising young student-athlete who will continue to be remembered by our program.

Within our department, we are proud of our accomplishments from a year ago to earn the MAC's Cartwright Award for the most comprehensively successful program in the league, not to mention 12 conference championships since spring 2023 and the record-setting academic achievement by our student-athletes. But in this business, the status quo can never be enough. We recorded historic performances in 2025-26, and I am excited as we look ahead to 2026-27.

Our football and men's basketball programs are sure to take a few steps forward in the coming year.
The energy in Coach Uremovich's football building is palpable. Simply put, they believe. Generally speaking, a program is better in year two of a new regime, and Coach U and company have had a full year to recruit and build. The Cardinals will undoubtedly be deeper and more diverse on both sides of the ball in 2026.

In the basketball arena, what I have seen so far from new men's basketball coach Chris Capko and staff is not only enthusiasm and a great start to recruiting, but also an operational efficiency that I believe energizes the program. I like the staff's positive energy and I believe in their purpose-driven approach toward building this year's team.

Both programs have hit the transfer portal hard, and both have received high acclaim for their efforts. When that energy and recruiting success begins translating to more wins, I expect our Muncie and student communities will rally around their momentum.

Our volleyball programs have both been inspiring, too. Volleyball has a particularly devout following in Delaware County, and it is growing on the men's side throughout the state of Indiana. I am excited about our success in both of these sports, and Kelli Miller Phillips and Mike Iandolo gave me great reason to stay positive from August through May of this past year!

Not to be outdone is women's basketball. Head Coach Brady Sallee and his squad have captured back-to-back conference titles and are reloading for this upcoming season with exciting new players coming to Muncie to join an already talented squad.

Beyond optimism in those five sports, our successes in 2025-26 speak for themselves. Consider that nine of our 19 programs finished in the top four of league standings last year. We saw three teams – men's and women's volleyball, plus women's basketball – win regular season titles. Six others were in the top four, including women's soccer and men's tennis with new head coaches.

Among those top-four finishers, track & field celebrated another All-American with Kenli Nettles advancing to the NCAA outdoor championships for the second straight year. The Cardinals hosted a very successful MAC Championships track meet and sent five NCAA qualifiers to postseason competition, the most in nearly two decades (since 2007)!

We truly have momentum! I encourage you to browse our Year in Review from 2025-26, for more detail and recognition on all our great accomplishments in the past year.

Another source of enthusiasm comes from the molding and shaping of a vision to build greater facilities for our programs – including the Foss Championship Performance Center that opens later this summer; and clubhouse structures at Shebek Stadium and the Ball State Softball Stadium that will come to fruition in the next year. We are branding and growing our physical resources to benefit every one of our 19 sports.

As I look at those projects coming together, I am thankful for the partnerships that help our programs advance. Ball State alumnus Eric Foss has been a tremendous partner to help us construct our new championship performance facility, which will impact more than 75% of our student-athlete population. Another alum, former baseball player Mike Shebek, has continued to assist in the shaping of our modern-day baseball program.

Both our golf programs are beneficiaries of recent alumni and donor support, and partners at Delaware Country Club have helped Mike Fleck and Cam Andry establish a new Cardinal Room that fosters team building and nutritional support for both golf teams.

Also, DCC will be the site of a new, two-day double engagement event to encourage golf, camaraderie and Cardinal Pride! On Thursday, August 6, an exclusive Sip & Chip event welcomes couples for an evening of wine and bourbon tasting, cigars and live music. The next day, August 7, a new Cardinal and White Invite is a premium golf and partnership event that welcomes corporate foursomes to mix with Ball State coaches and staff while we prepare for the upcoming seasons. A 1 p.m. shotgun start follows registration and lunch at 11:30 a.m. Corporate sponsorships and event recognition opportunities are available. Information for both events may be found at BallStateSports.com/SIPNCHIP or BallStateSports.com/CardinalWhiteInvite.

Partnerships also have led to broader community engagement with the Woof Boom Radio family of stations. With the help of Shebek's generosity, every home baseball game and select road games were carried on WMUN last season. The Woof Boom network has added multiple initiatives in recent years to help shape and spread our message. Besides carrying football, men's and women's basketball, and now baseball games, they added an hour to our football pregame show and have become a great mouthpiece in showcasing our This Week in Ball State Sports podcast on its weekday, daytime programming schedule – a big step in any market.

In addition, while Mark Foerster's afternoon talk show routinely welcomes Ball State coaches, he features a broader array of Ball State athletics guests nearly every Friday during the summer for a live happy hour broadcast at the 1925 Pubhouse. It cultivates greater opportunity for fellowship and partnership every week during our slower months.

The synergy between donors, sponsors, partners and community friends helps our programs grow. In addition to happiness with our teams' successes, my greatest gratitude comes from these growth experiences outside the field of play.

Now in my fourth year as a Cardinal, my confidence in our path is at an unmistakable high, even despite the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics. Budgets have tightened as we enter an era of revenue sharing with student-athletes. But as I've often said at the onset of this new term, our University and our athletics department are in lockstep.

I believe we are well-positioned for the future. Most certainly, our trajectory is moving in an upward direction. As always though, we need your help in order to thrive to the degree we hope. I am grateful for the support of our alumni, friends and fans, but it remains imperative that we increase our revenue in this new era. The best way to support the Cardinals is to buy season tickets, make a donation to the Cardinal Excellence Fund or the sport fund of your choice, attend our events, and get others to do the same.

We need all our Cardinals and partners together!
BUY SEASON TICKETS | DONATE TO YOUR FAVORITE FUND

I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event!

GO CARDINALS!
Jeff Mitchell signature

JEFF MITCHELL
Director of Athletics
Ball State University

Ball State University Athletics

A Letter from Director of Athletics Jeff Mitchell: Upward Trajectory

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