Championing Excellence
Jeff Mitchell and Ball State athletes presented the Jacoby Trophy, presented annually by the conference to the school whose women’s teams win first place in the league’s cumulative standings.
Ball State sets ambitious athletic goals, invests in success
When Jeff Mitchell was introduced as Ball State University’s director of athletics in February 2023, he issued a challenge to all of his head coaches.
“We are going to thrive,” Mr. Mitchell told them. “We are in the development business, and I want to develop leaders and winners. I want to dominate the Mid-American Conference and be the most comprehensively excellent athletic department in the MAC.”
During Mr. Mitchell’s first few months on the job, the Cardinals were awarded the Jacoby Trophy, presented annually by the conference to the school whose women’s teams win first place in the league’s cumulative standings. In addition, Ball State’s men’s teams finished second in the 2022-23 standings, their best finish since 2013, giving the University its best-combined results since 2001.
In total, the Cardinals won six different conference championships and advanced to 11 postseason tournaments in 2022-23.
“We want to sustain that success, but it is going to require resources to do that,” Mr. Mitchell said. “Our resources must match expectations. I don’t want last year to be a flash in the pan. It needs to be something that we can recreate year after year, but it takes some resources to do that. The cost of doing business is increasing.”
Mr. Mitchell has adopted a strategic approach to better aid sports programs in their pursuit of conference titles—an effort that has involved a reorganization of his administrative team. He has even established a brand-new area referred to as “Championship Performance,” which encompasses everything that influences the student-athlete’s overall health and best prepares them to compete at a championship level.
Identifying other key championship resources has also included investing in the level of coaching, programming, and training for student-athletes before they step foot on their respective fields or courts of competition.
“We want to develop best-in-class championship performance and empower our student-athletes to perform at their best,” Mr. Mitchell said.
There’s also an “operational” aspect for Mr. Mitchell and the Cardinals to maintain their level of success.
“We want to invest in our student-athletes so they can get stronger and faster, while at the same time investing in the operational side of competition,” he said. “For example, we have some teams taking vans to competition when buses would be a healthier and safer alternative. We also want to enhance opportunities for proper nutrition that is required to meet the necessary caloric intake of student-athletes and promote healthy recovery—anything that requires fueling our students to thrive at their optimal performance.”
If the 2022-23 season is any indication, the Cardinals are well on their way to achieving their lofty goals to fly even higher.
“We don’t put limits on things that we can accomplish together,” Mr. Mitchell said.
