The Ball State basketball program is looking for a fresh start under a new head coach after its fifth losing season in the last six years. One day after their final game of the 2025-2026 season, the Cardinals made the decision to move on from Michael Lewis.
Ball State relieved Lewis of his duties after four seasons, which included three losing records, according to The Field of 68. The 48-year-old led the team to a 20-12 season in his first year at the helm, but has seen his win total decrease in each of the last three years, culminating in a 12-19 campaign in 2025-2026.
Ball State hired Lewis in 2022 to replace James Whitford, whom it fired after nine seasons. Lewis joined the Cardinals after stops as an assistant at Eastern Illinois, Butler, Nebraska and UCLA. As a Jasper, Indiana, native, the hiring brought him back to the Hoosier State six years after his stint with the Bulldogs.
Three of the head coaches Lewis worked for before moving to Muncie are still leading Division I programs. Lewis was a coveted assistant on Mick Cronin's UCLA staff during its Final Four run in 2021.
Lewis played four years at Indiana before beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech. He was a three-year starting point guard for Bob Knight's Hoosiers and left the program as the all-time assists leader, a record Yogi Ferrell would break in 2016.
By relieving Lewis, Ball State has now fired its last three head coaches since Ronny Thompson's infamous one-year stint that ended with his abrupt resignation. The Cardinals have not won the MAC since 2000, their final season under then-head coach Ray McCallum before he left to accept the job at Houston.
The new vacancy at Ball State is considered a “bottom half of the MAC job,” according to college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman.
