3/25/2022 basketball Edit

Former Indiana guard Michael Lewis named new Ball State Head Coach

Kyler Staley • TheHoosier

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On Friday, March 25th it was announced that former Indiana guard and current UCLA assistant coach Michael Lewis was named the new head coach of Ball State University, thus returning to his home state of Indiana.

The Cardinals had previously let go of former head coach James Whitford after nine seasons which he complied a 131-148 overall record during his tenure.

After spending 18 season as an assistant coach, Lewis will now get his first opportunity to at the head coaching level.

Under Bob Knight, Lewis spent four years playing for Indiana from 1996-2000. He was recruited out of Jasper High School where he finished in 13th place on Indiana’s all-time high school scoring list ending with 2,138 career points.

During his tenure as a Hoosier, Lewis was know more for his distribution skills rather than his scoring (only averaged 7.0 points per game).

On the final game of his Indiana career, he would surpass Quinn Buckner to become Indiana All-Time assist leader with a total of 545 assist. Lewis would hold that record for nearly 16 years before Yogi Ferrell (633 total assists) would take the leading spot.

Other notable accomplishments for Lewis during his time at Indiana included helping Indiana finish in the top five in the Big Ten all four years, being one of only two players to ever have a program-record of 15 assists in a single game, leading Indiana past Kentucky for the first time in six years his senior season, and being named to the Big Ten Conference’s All-Star Team in 1997.

Once his playing career had ended, Lewis would immediately get into coaching. He would first follow Bob Knight to Texas Tech as a graduate assistant for two years then would move onto Stephen F. Austin State University as an assistant coach.

Before becoming an assistant coach with UCLA, Lewis had stints with Eastern Illinois (2005-11), Butler (2011-16), and Nebraska (2016-19).

With every stop as an assistant coach, Lewis has always found ways for himself and his team to find success.

At Eastern Illinois he was named one of the top five assistant coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference in 2010 by FoxSports.com, help lead Butler to an overall record of 108-63 in the five season he was there, and was a part of the coaching staff that led Nebraska to the most consecutive wins over two seasons (41 wins) since 1990-92.

Lewis joined the UCLA coaching staff in 2019 and has been there ever since. During his time with the Bruins, he has helped coach them to an overall 68-29 record currently along with two trips to the NCAA Tournament, which included the Final Four appearance that UCLA made last season.

UCLA is currently still in the NCAA Tournament and will be playing North Carolina in the Sweet 16 tonight.

After this run with UCLA ends, Lewis will be heading to Muncie, Indiana to get started leading the Ball State University men's basketball program.

“Along with my family, I am very grateful for the opportunity to lead the men’s basketball program at Ball State University,” Lewis said. “Thank you to University President Geoff Mearns and Beth Goetz with whom I shared a vision for our program that will be aligned with their leadership and the values of Ball State. That united vision is paramount for success."

"We are very excited to return to the state of Indiana where basketball means so much to lead a program with tremendous history and great potential.”