Ball State University Athletics
Staff Directory
Jeff Mitchell
- Title:
- Director of Athletics
(Sports Supervision: Football, Baseball)
- Email:
- Phone:
- 765-285-5131
Jeff Mitchell was introduced as Director of Athletics at Ball State University on February 6, 2023. A respected executive with over two decades of leadership in higher education and intercollegiate athletics, Mitchell serves on the University’s senior leadership team, directing a 19-sport NCAA Division I enterprise powered by more than 430 student-athletes.
Since taking the helm, Mitchell has spearheaded a comprehensive transformation of Ball State Athletics, establishing unprecedented benchmarks in competitive success, academic excellence, revenue generation, philanthropic investment, and facility development.
Under Mitchell’s strategic direction, the Cardinals have captured 12 conference championships across eight sports and earned 30 team and individual NCAA postseason appearances, marking the most successful competitive stretch since the early 2000s. Ball State has consistently maintained its stature among the conference elite, finishing as one of the league’s top five in the LEARFIELD Director’s Cup standings in three of the past four years while twice earning the MAC Institutional Achievement Award for academic excellence.
Mitchell’s arrival made an immediate impact in 2022-23 as Ball State claimed five conference championships, won the prestigious Jacoby Trophy as the Mid-American Conference’s top-performing women’s athletics program, finished runner-up for the Reese Trophy (top men’s program), and placed in the top 25 percent nationally of the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup, ranking as the MAC's highest-rated institution.
In the 24-25 campaign, Mitchell led Ball State to its first-ever Carol A. Cartwright Award, the MAC's highest institutional honor recognizing the league's overall leader in athletic success, academic performance, and civic engagement as voted on by all member universities. Five programs finished in the top four of the MAC, highlighted by women’s basketball’s sweep of the MAC regular-season and tournament titles alongside national qualifiers in indoor track, outdoor track, and men’s and women’s golf. Academically, all 19 varsity programs recorded a team GPA above 3.0 in both semesters, with the department achieving its highest full-year GPA at 3.46. In the community, the Cardinals logged more than 4,200 hours of service across Muncie and East Central Indiana.
Mitchell guided the Cardinals to continued comprehensive success in 2025–26, with nine of 19 teams in the top four of conference play. Ball State claimed three conference crowns in women's volleyball, women's basketball, and men's volleyball with men's volleyball capturing an NCAA Regional championship and advancing to the NCAA Final Four in Los Angeles. The Cardinals registered a record high department-wide 3.48 GPA, an all-time record 994 NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR), and a program-record 94% Graduation Success Rate (GSR). In the community, Ball State student-athletes, coaches, and staff contributed 2,500 service hours across East Central Indiana, partnering with organizations such as Muncie Mission Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, Secret Families Christmas Charity, Ball State Dance Marathon, and the Challenge League.
An elite revenue generator, Mitchell has fundamentally elevated Ball State’s financial posture. He has secured the department’s largest multi-media rights partnership with Peak Sports MGMT valued at over $10 million while partnering with the BSU Foundation staff to orchestrate the most lucrative three-year fundraising era in department history, generating more than $25 million in philanthropic support.
Simultaneously, Mitchell has executed a transformative $25 million master plan for athletic facilities. August 2026 marked the grand opening of the flagship $8 million Eric Foss Championship Performance Center, anchoring a comprehensive facilities upgrade campaign which has delivered major venue overhauls and state-of-the-art playing surfaces across Scheumann Stadium (football), Worthen Arena (basketball, volleyball, gymnastics), Shebek Stadium (baseball), Ball State Softball Stadium, Briner Sports Complex (field hockey, track), the Foster Adams Family Tennis Complex and Bill Richards Courts and the $1.8 million purchase and refurbishment of the tennis indoor facility. Currently underway is the construction of clubhouses at Shebek Stadium and the Softball Stadium, valued at $9 million.
Prior to his arrival in Muncie, Mitchell served nearly five years as Deputy Director of Athletics at the University of Southern Mississippi, overseeing daily operations, leading the department’s "#ToTheTop25" strategic plan, and negotiating a long-term $19 million multi-media partnership with LEARFIELD. He served as Interim Athletics Director during the 2018-19 academic year and directed $7.5 million in capital projects, including a student-athlete academic center, basketball court redesign, LED lighting systems for baseball and basketball and synthetic turf baseball facilities. As primary sport administrator for baseball, men's basketball, and football scheduling, he oversaw four NCAA baseball regional berths, two super regionals, two basketball postseason appearances, two football bowl appearances including a 2022 LendingTree Bowl victory.
Mitchell began his administrative career with a distinguished 12-year tenure at Santa Clara University, rising from volunteer to Interim Athletics Director (2015) and Senior Associate AD for External Relations. At Santa Clara, he served on the West Coast Conference Basketball Cabinet and spent three years on the NCAA Division I Baseball Regional Advisory Committee (West Region). His leadership helped yield 22 NCAA team tournament bids, 11 individual NCAA postseason berths across eight sports, seven WCC titles, and two postseason men’s basketball championships (CIT in 2011 and CBI in 2013).
A published thought leader in sport governance, Mitchell co-authored the textbook Sport, Ethics and Leadership (2017) and previously served as an adjunct professor of business leadership at Southern Miss. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (2001) and Master of Business Administration (2003) from Millsaps College, where he was a four-year varsity baseball student-athlete, sports information assistant, and assistant baseball coach. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2005, serving as a graduate assistant in external relations supporting Ole Miss football and men's basketball.
Mitchell and his wife, April, are the proud parents of a daughter, Harper Wynne, and a son, Carson.
Since taking the helm, Mitchell has spearheaded a comprehensive transformation of Ball State Athletics, establishing unprecedented benchmarks in competitive success, academic excellence, revenue generation, philanthropic investment, and facility development.
Under Mitchell’s strategic direction, the Cardinals have captured 12 conference championships across eight sports and earned 30 team and individual NCAA postseason appearances, marking the most successful competitive stretch since the early 2000s. Ball State has consistently maintained its stature among the conference elite, finishing as one of the league’s top five in the LEARFIELD Director’s Cup standings in three of the past four years while twice earning the MAC Institutional Achievement Award for academic excellence.
Mitchell’s arrival made an immediate impact in 2022-23 as Ball State claimed five conference championships, won the prestigious Jacoby Trophy as the Mid-American Conference’s top-performing women’s athletics program, finished runner-up for the Reese Trophy (top men’s program), and placed in the top 25 percent nationally of the LEARFIELD Directors' Cup, ranking as the MAC's highest-rated institution.
In the 24-25 campaign, Mitchell led Ball State to its first-ever Carol A. Cartwright Award, the MAC's highest institutional honor recognizing the league's overall leader in athletic success, academic performance, and civic engagement as voted on by all member universities. Five programs finished in the top four of the MAC, highlighted by women’s basketball’s sweep of the MAC regular-season and tournament titles alongside national qualifiers in indoor track, outdoor track, and men’s and women’s golf. Academically, all 19 varsity programs recorded a team GPA above 3.0 in both semesters, with the department achieving its highest full-year GPA at 3.46. In the community, the Cardinals logged more than 4,200 hours of service across Muncie and East Central Indiana.
Mitchell guided the Cardinals to continued comprehensive success in 2025–26, with nine of 19 teams in the top four of conference play. Ball State claimed three conference crowns in women's volleyball, women's basketball, and men's volleyball with men's volleyball capturing an NCAA Regional championship and advancing to the NCAA Final Four in Los Angeles. The Cardinals registered a record high department-wide 3.48 GPA, an all-time record 994 NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR), and a program-record 94% Graduation Success Rate (GSR). In the community, Ball State student-athletes, coaches, and staff contributed 2,500 service hours across East Central Indiana, partnering with organizations such as Muncie Mission Ministries, Habitat for Humanity, Secret Families Christmas Charity, Ball State Dance Marathon, and the Challenge League.
An elite revenue generator, Mitchell has fundamentally elevated Ball State’s financial posture. He has secured the department’s largest multi-media rights partnership with Peak Sports MGMT valued at over $10 million while partnering with the BSU Foundation staff to orchestrate the most lucrative three-year fundraising era in department history, generating more than $25 million in philanthropic support.
Simultaneously, Mitchell has executed a transformative $25 million master plan for athletic facilities. August 2026 marked the grand opening of the flagship $8 million Eric Foss Championship Performance Center, anchoring a comprehensive facilities upgrade campaign which has delivered major venue overhauls and state-of-the-art playing surfaces across Scheumann Stadium (football), Worthen Arena (basketball, volleyball, gymnastics), Shebek Stadium (baseball), Ball State Softball Stadium, Briner Sports Complex (field hockey, track), the Foster Adams Family Tennis Complex and Bill Richards Courts and the $1.8 million purchase and refurbishment of the tennis indoor facility. Currently underway is the construction of clubhouses at Shebek Stadium and the Softball Stadium, valued at $9 million.
Prior to his arrival in Muncie, Mitchell served nearly five years as Deputy Director of Athletics at the University of Southern Mississippi, overseeing daily operations, leading the department’s "#ToTheTop25" strategic plan, and negotiating a long-term $19 million multi-media partnership with LEARFIELD. He served as Interim Athletics Director during the 2018-19 academic year and directed $7.5 million in capital projects, including a student-athlete academic center, basketball court redesign, LED lighting systems for baseball and basketball and synthetic turf baseball facilities. As primary sport administrator for baseball, men's basketball, and football scheduling, he oversaw four NCAA baseball regional berths, two super regionals, two basketball postseason appearances, two football bowl appearances including a 2022 LendingTree Bowl victory.
Mitchell began his administrative career with a distinguished 12-year tenure at Santa Clara University, rising from volunteer to Interim Athletics Director (2015) and Senior Associate AD for External Relations. At Santa Clara, he served on the West Coast Conference Basketball Cabinet and spent three years on the NCAA Division I Baseball Regional Advisory Committee (West Region). His leadership helped yield 22 NCAA team tournament bids, 11 individual NCAA postseason berths across eight sports, seven WCC titles, and two postseason men’s basketball championships (CIT in 2011 and CBI in 2013).
A published thought leader in sport governance, Mitchell co-authored the textbook Sport, Ethics and Leadership (2017) and previously served as an adjunct professor of business leadership at Southern Miss. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (2001) and Master of Business Administration (2003) from Millsaps College, where he was a four-year varsity baseball student-athlete, sports information assistant, and assistant baseball coach. He earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2005, serving as a graduate assistant in external relations supporting Ole Miss football and men's basketball.
Mitchell and his wife, April, are the proud parents of a daughter, Harper Wynne, and a son, Carson.
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