View source for Ball State Cardinals

{{Short description|Intercollegiate sports teams of Ball State University}}
{{Infobox college athletics
|name = Ball State Cardinals
|logo = Ball State Cardinals logo.svg
|logo_width = 150
|university = [[Ball State University]]
|conference = [[Mid-American Conference|Mid-American]] (primary)<br>[[Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association|MIVA]] (men's volleyball)<br>[[Missouri Valley Conference|MVC]] (men's swimming & diving)
|association = NCAA
|division = [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] ([[NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision|FBS]])
|director = Jeff Mitchell
|location = [[Muncie, Indiana]]
|teams = 18
|stadium = [[Scheumann Stadium]]
|baseballfield = [[Ball Diamond]] 
|basketballarena= [[Worthen Arena]]
|mascot = Charlie Cardinal 
|nickname = Cardinals
|fightsong =''Fight, Team, Fight''
|pageurl = https://ballstatesports.com/
|altlogo = [[File:Ballstate cardinals wordmark 2015.png|200px]]
}}
The '''Ball State Cardinals''' are the [[sport|athletic]] teams that represent [[Ball State University]], located in [[Muncie, Indiana]]. The Cardinals are part of the [[NCAA Division I]] [[Mid-American Conference]]. [[Charlie Cardinal]] is the team mascot.

The [[The Pride of Mid-America Marching Band|Ball State University Pride of Mid-America Marching Band]] performs at all home football games, many home basketball games, and various other athletic and spirit events across campus.

== Nickname ==

Previously known as the Hoosieroons, the university fell out of favor with the nickname. Then-President [[L.A. Pittenger]] told ''The Easterner'', Ball State's newspaper, "[Hoosieroons] is entirely too long", while football assistant coach (and future head coach) [[Paul B. Parker]] said, "Hoosieroons is a joke over the state." In 1927, Pittenger led a committee that looked over a list of 45 names—including Goblins, Steamers, Fleet-foot Warriors, Muncie Gleaners, Magicians, Fighting Normalites, and Scrappin' Teachers—all 45 of which were rejected.

On the morning of November 30, a meeting between then-athletic director [[Paul "Billy" Williams]] and head football coach [[Norman G. Wann]] led to the pair coming up with the idea for the "Cardinals" nickname after seeing a [[St. Louis Cardinals]] sweatshirt. They inferred the nickname would work well as the cardinal was the state bird of Indiana. In a student body vote, "Cardinals" won in a landslide with 234 votes out of 500 (77 votes going to "Hoosieroons"). Ball State athletic teams promptly adopted the nickname, and have been known as the "Cardinals" since.<ref>{{cite news|title="Cardinals" New Name for Teams|url=http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/BSUDlyNws&CISOPTR=1585&REC=1|access-date=12 April 2012|newspaper=The Easterner|date=December 2, 1927}}</ref>

== Sports sponsored ==
A member of the [[Mid-American Conference]] (MAC), Ball State sponsors teams in seven men's and 12 women's [[NCAA]] sanctioned sports.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ballstatesports.com |title=(Cardinal logo) Ball State Cardinals |publisher=Ball State University |access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> The men's volleyball team is a member of the [[Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association]]. Men's swimming & diving moved from the MAC to the [[Missouri Valley Conference]] (MVC) when sponsorship of that sport transferred from the MAC to the MVC in 2024–25.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://mvc-sports.com/news/2024/4/11/swimming-and-diving-mvc-to-sponsor-mens-swimming-diving-in-2024-25.aspx|title=MVC To Sponsor Men's Swimming & Diving in 2024-25|publisher=Missouri Valley Conference|date=April 11, 2024|access-date=April 19, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:MAC logo in Ball State colors.svg|thumb|150px|Ball State is a member of the Mid-American Conference]]
{| class="wikitable" style= " "
! width=150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Men's sports
! width=150px style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Women's sports 
|-
| [[Ball State Cardinals baseball|Baseball]] || [[Ball State Cardinals women's basketball|Basketball]]
|-
| [[Ball State Cardinals men's basketball|Basketball]] || Cross country
|-
| [[Ball State Cardinals football|Football]] || Field hockey
|-
| Golf || Golf 
|-
| Swimming & diving || Gymnastics
|-
| Tennis || Soccer
|-
| Volleyball || Softball
|-
| || Swimming & diving
|-
| || Tennis
|-
| || Track and field<sup>†</sup>
|-
| || Volleyball
|-
| colspan="2" style="{{NCAA secondary color cell|Ball State Cardinals}}" | {{small|† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor.}}
|}

=== Football ===
{{main|Ball State Cardinals football}}
[[File:Army vs. Ball State (15253968780).jpg|thumb|Ball State v Army game in 2014]]
The [[Ball State University|Ball State Cardinals]] compete in the [[NCAA Division I|Division I]] [[Football Bowl Subdivision]] and the [[Mid-American Conference]]. It had been a member of the conference's West Division in football from the start of divisional play in 1997 until divisions were eliminated after the 2023 season. The current head coach is [[Mike Neu]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ballstatesports.com/coaches.aspx?rc=890&path=football|title=Ball State Athletics|website=ballstatesports.com|language=en|access-date=2017-09-27}}</ref> The Cardinals play at [[Scheumann Stadium]].

On October 5, 2008, Ball State was ranked in the [[Associated Press]] Top 25 poll for the first time in team history, and reached a ranking as high as 12th in the nation during the course of the season. Ball State completed the 2008 regular season with a record of 12–0 and a conference record of 8–0. They won the MAC West Division championship before falling to Buffalo in the MAC Championship at Ford Field in Detroit. Shortly after the departure of head coach [[Brady Hoke]], Ball State lost to the University of Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl on January 6, 2009, by a score of 45–13.

===Bowl games===
The Cardinals have gone to eight Division I bowl games. They have a 1–8 record in these games, with their last appearance being a 51–20 loss to [[Georgia State University|Georgia State]] in the Camellia Bowl.

{|class="wikitable"
! style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Date
! style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Bowl game
! colspan=2 style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Winner
! colspan=2 style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Ball State Cardinals|border=1|color= white }}"| Loser
|-
|December 9, 1989||[[California Bowl]]||'''[[California State University, Fresno|Fresno State]]'''||'''27'''||Ball State||6
|-
|December 17, 1993||[[Las Vegas Bowl]]||'''[[Utah State University|Utah State]]'''||'''42'''||Ball State||33
|-
|December 18, 1996||[[1996 Las Vegas Bowl|Las Vegas Bowl]]||'''[[University of Nevada, Reno|Nevada]]'''||'''18'''||Ball State||15
|-
|January 5, 2008||[[2008 International Bowl|International Bowl]]||'''[[Rutgers University|Rutgers]]'''||'''52'''||Ball State||30
|-
|January 6, 2009||[[2009 GMAC Bowl|GMAC Bowl]]||'''[[University of Tulsa|Tulsa]]'''||'''45'''||Ball State||13
|-
|December 21, 2012||[[2012 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl|Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl]]||'''[[University of Central Florida|UCF]]'''||'''38'''||Ball State||17
|-
|January 5, 2014||[[2014 GoDaddy Bowl|GoDaddy Bowl]]||'''[[Arkansas State University|Arkansas State]]'''||'''23'''||Ball State||20
|-
|December 31, 2020||[[2020 Arizona Bowl|Arizona Bowl]]||'''Ball State'''||'''34'''||[[San Jose State University|San Jose State]]||13
|-
|December 25, 2021||[[2021 Camellia Bowl|Camellia Bowl]]||'''[[Georgia State University|Georgia State]]'''||'''51'''||Ball State||20
|}

===Men's basketball===
{{main|Ball State Cardinals men's basketball}}
[[File:Franz Wagner floater vs Ball State.jpg|thumb|Ball State (in black) v Franz Wagner game]]
The Cardinals first basketball season was 1920–21. The school's team currently competes in the [[Mid-American Conference]]. The team last played in the [[NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament]] in [[2000 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|2000]].

The Cardinals have had various levels of success throughout their 94 seasons of competition.  Although there was little success in the program from its start until the 1970s, the next two decades would be the highlight of the program's performance.  Ball State became a sporadic leader in the Mid-American Conference, winning a record seven MAC tournaments between 1981 and 2000.  The Cardinals also accomplished a large feat during the 2001 [[Maui Invitational Tournament]], when they upset #4 [[2001-02 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Kansas]] and #3 [[2001-02 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team|UCLA]] on consecutive days. In 2017, the Cardinals beat #8 [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish]] at [[Purcell Pavilion]] by a score of 80–77, breaking a sixteen-year drought against ranked teams.

===Women's basketball===
{{main|Ball State Cardinals women's basketball}}
The Ball State Cardinals' women's basketball team won their first MAC tournament in 2009 and subsequently went to their first-ever NCAA Tournament. In the first round, they beat the Tennessee Lady Volunteers 71–55 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. 12th-seeded Ball State's win over 5th-seeded Tennessee was the Lady Volunteers' first first-round loss in the 28-year history of the women's NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals earned a lot of attention for their historic first round win and briefly became the Cinderella, feel-good story of the NCAA Tournament before losing to the Iowa State Cyclones 57–71 in the second round.  On March 21, 2012, head coach Kelly Packard resigned<ref>{{cite news|last=St. Myer|first=Thomas|title=Kelly Packard resigns as Ball State women's basketball coach|url=http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20120321/SPORTS20/120321018/Kelly-Packard-resigns-Ball-State-women-s-basketball-coach?odyssey=nav{{!}}head|newspaper=The Star Press|date=March 21, 2012}}</ref>  On May 12, 2012, [[Brady Sallee]], the former coach at [[Eastern Illinois University]], was named the eleventh head coach in the program's history.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14200&ATCLID=205425808|title=Brady Sallee Named Head Women's Basketball Coach - Ball State University Athletics}}</ref>

===Baseball===
{{main|Ball State Cardinals baseball}}
The Ball State baseball team plays in the MAC West Division. They play on [[Ball Diamond]]. Their head coach is Rich Maloney, who formerly coached the Cardinals, with an extended stint with the University of Michigan in between. The team began play in 1918. The Cardinals have had 8 players drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft. Their most notable alumni though is Mr. Jonny Cisna, the inventor of the term launch angle.

===Softball===
Ball State's softball team has appeared in two [[Women's College World Series]], in 1973 and 1975.<ref name="Plummer">{{cite book|title=A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series|first1=William|last1=Plummer|first2=Larry C.|last2=Floyd|year=2013|publisher= Turnkey Communications Inc.|location= Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States|isbn=978-0-9893007-0-4}}</ref>

== Fight song ==

The "Ball State Fight Song" was written by Carl Hofer in 1930. The lyrics go:

''Fight team fight for Ball State''

''We must win this game''

''Onward now you Cardinals''

''Bring glory to your name''

''Fight! Fight! Fight!''

''Here's to both our colors''

''Cardinal and White''

''Praying for a victory''

''So fight, fight, fight!''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ball State University athletics}}
*{{Official website}}

{{Ball State University}}
{{Indiana Sports}}
{{Mid-American Conference navbox}}
{{Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association navbox}}
{{Missouri Valley Conference navbox}}
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[[Category:Ball State Cardinals| ]]