List of Ball State Cardinals men's basketball head coaches

Last updated June 11, 2025

The following is a list of Ball State Cardinals men's basketball head coaches. The Cardinals have had 20 coaches in their 102-season history.^[1]

Ball State's current head coach is Michael Lewis. He was hired in March 2022^[2] to replace James Whitford, who was fired by Ball State at the end of the 2021–22 season.^[3]

No.	Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.
1	1920–1921	Frank Graham	1	1–4	.200
2	1921–1925 1929–1930^[a]	Billy Williams	6	36–34–1	.514
3	1925–1930^[a]	Paul B. Parker	5	55–34	.618
4	1930–1938	Branch McCracken	8	86–57	.601
5	1938–1948^[b]	Pete Phillips	9	82–71	.536
6	1948–1952	Dick Stealy	4	36–42	.462
7	1952–1954	Bob Primmer	2	20–23	.465
8	1954–1968	Jim Hinga	14	154–169	.477
9	1968–1972	Bud Getchell	4	30–67	.309
10	1972–1977	Jim Holstein	5	55–70	.440
11	1977–1982	Steve Yoder	5	77–62	.554
12	1982–1987	Al Brown	5	68–75	.476
13	1987–1989	Rick Majerus	2	43–17	.717
14	1989–1993	Dick Hunsaker	4	97–34	.740
15	1993–2000	Ray McCallum	7	126–76	.624
16	2000–2006	Tim Buckley	6	93–87	.517
17	2006–2007	Ronny Thompson	1	9–22	.290
18	2007–2013	Billy Taylor	6	84–99	.459
19	2013–2022	James Whitford	9	131–148	.470
20	2022–present	Michael Lewis	1	20–12	.625
Totals		20 coaches	102 seasons	1,294–1,198–1	.519
Records updated through end of 2022–23 season Source^[1]

1 2 Billy Williams and Paul B. Parker served as co-head coaches for the 1929–30 season. The team finished 9–5; both coaches are credited with wins and losses from this season.
↑ Ball State did not field a team for the 1943–44 season

References

1 2 "Ball State Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Ball State Athletics. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
↑ Bolch, Ben (March 22, 2022). "Ball State hires UCLA's Michael Lewis in a homecoming for Indiana native" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved February 25, 2023.
↑ Borzello, Jeff (March 14, 2022). "Sources: Ball State Cardinals fire men's basketball coach James Whitford after 9 seasons". ESPN.com . Retrieved February 25, 2023.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WilliamsParker-4] 1 2 Billy Williams and Paul B. Parker served as co-head coaches for the 1929–30 season. The team finished 9–5; both coaches are credited with wins and losses from this season.

[1943-44-5] Ball State did not field a team for the 1943–44 season

[RecordBook-1] 1 2 "Ball State Men's Basketball Record Book" (PDF). Ball State Athletics. Retrieved February 25, 2023.

[2] Bolch, Ben (March 22, 2022). "Ball State hires UCLA's Michael Lewis in a homecoming for Indiana native" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved February 25, 2023.

[3] Borzello, Jeff (March 14, 2022). "Sources: Ball State Cardinals fire men's basketball coach James Whitford after 9 seasons". ESPN.com . Retrieved February 25, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[a]

[b]

v t e Ball State Cardinals men's basketball
Venues	Ball Gymnasium (1925–1963) Irving Gymnasium (1963–1992) Worthen Arena (1992–present)
Culture & lore	Charlie Cardinal
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1942–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25