Ball State hires Butler’s Uremovich as coach​

Ball State has hired Butler head coach Mike Uremovich as the school’s new football coach, the school announced.

The deal is for five years, sources told ESPN.

Uremovich, 48, brings significant experience from his time at Butler, where he is 23-11 the past three years. He also spent seven seasons as the head coach at the University of St. Francis (Illinois), where he led them to a 17-7 mark his final two seasons.

The diversity of experience attracted Ball State to Uremovich, per sources. Uremovich brings extensive time in the MAC, including three stints at Northern Illinois that span six different seasons. He was specials teams coordinator on the 2012 Orange Bowl team and offensive coordinator on the 2018 MAC champions.

He has also worked as an offensive coordinator in the AAC at Temple and as an assistant coach in the ACC at North Carolina State. He has been on coaching staffs that have appeared in six bowl games, and his experience ranges from high school to the top levels of college football.

The caliber of Uremovich’s success at Butler impressed the Ball State brass, as Butler appeared in the FCS coaches poll for the first national ranking in Butler football history. The three consecutive winning seasons there were the first at Butler since the late 1980s, showing his ability to win big at a place that has struggled to do so.

The breadth of Uremovich’s experience has come in the Midwest, giving him familiarity with the footprint that Ball State needs to recruit in order to be successful.

He’ll replace Mike Neu, who was fired after going 40-63 over nine seasons. Neu led Ball State to the MAC title in 2020.