Lembo makes Ball State a place to play, stay

Iowa cornerback Desmond King bought into Pete Lembo and the Ball State Cardinals a couple of years ago.

King, now a sophomore starter for the Hawkeyes, committed three times before he signed with Iowa in 2013. The first time was with Central Michigan. It was his first offer and he was excited. The second time was with the Cardinals (1-0), who come into Kinnick Stadium to face the Hawkeyes (1-0) on Saturday.

'The Central Michigan coaches were cool. That my first offer and I was in a rush,” King said. 'I thought more offers would come. Ball State came and I thought there was a home there.”

King, a Detroit native, also had offers from Northern Illinois and Wisconsin before he picked the Hawkeyes. It came down to Ball State and Iowa.

'When we recruited him, we thought he would be an absolute impact player in our conference and we're not surprised to see him having such a great career at Iowa,” Lembo said Monday morning. 'He's a bigger corner, he's thick. I think he's the classic boundary corner who can cover, but who's also confident in run support.”

King had offers from Iowa and Ball State on the table. It wasn't automatic. That says a lot about Lembo, his program and where it's been and might be going.

Lembo enters his fourth season in Muncie, Ind. After Brady Hoke drove the Cardinals to 12-2 in 2008 and then left for San Diego State, BSU was just 6-18 in two years under Stan Parrish. In ‘11, Lembo pushed BSU to a two-game improvement and then ran off a 9-4 season in 2012. Last season, the Cardinals won 10 games for just the second time in three decades and finished second to Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference West.

Now, Ball State is building new facilities. And, in March, it gave Lembo a contract extension (five-year deal), named him associate athletics director and raised his salary $79,000 to $475,000, among the highest in the MAC.

It's deserved, and one of the reasons why is winning. The Cardinals are the only team in the country that has raised its win total in each of the last three seasons.

'He's a fascinating combination of seeing the big picture and also not losing sight of the details,” BSU athletics director Bill Scholl told the Muncie Star Press. 'So many of us tend to be one way or the other. He's really good at understanding the big picture while not losing sight of the little things. That's a very important kind of skill set that he brings to it.”

Of course, with a coach who's delivered, there was offseason flirtation.

Connecticut approached him then about its head coaching vacancy, but the position that eventually went to Bob Diaco, previously the Notre Dame defensive coordinator and former Iowa linebacker. Lembo was the first interview at Wake Forest, but the job eventually went to Bowling Green's Dave Clawson. Purdue and Boston College also showed interest when they had openings.

The Wake Forest decision stung Lembo, who considers North Carolina home.

'Is it disappointing when a potential opportunity that might change your life presents itself and you think you have a chance and it doesn't happen?” Lembo told the Burlington, N.C., Times-News. 'Yeah, sure, we're all human.

'But that doesn't veer you off course from what your mission is, to make Ball State as good as you can make it and to invest everything you have into that. I don't think that's changed at all. If anything, I think going through that experience has made me appreciate what I have more than ever.”

So, what is Ball State in 2014? It's 1-0 for one thing, rushing for 311 yards in a 30-10 victory in its opener against FCS opponent Colgate. Horactio Banks (134 yards) and Jahwan Edwards (109) gave BSU its 20th game with two backs rushing for more than 100 yards. The Cardinals defense, the question mark heading into the season with linebacker Jonathan Newsome now in the NFL, held Colgate to 227 total yards, the fewest against BSU since 2010. The Cardinals also held Colgate to 2 of 13 on third down and produced five three-and-outs.

Ozzie Mann took over for four-year starter Keith Wenning, who left the school with almost every career and single-season passing record, and threw for 203 yards, two TDs and an interception.

'Just a good, solid first day for us,” Lembo said. 'Nothing incredibly special, but pleased to get the win and, obviously, a big challenge going to Iowa this week.”