Mike Neu has flown under the radar as the Ball State Cardinals’ head coach for the last eight seasons, sporting a 37-56 career record with a conference championship win in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. He has an experienced staff and is looking to bounce back from a 4-8 record in 2023.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Ball State Cardinals coaching staff.
Ball State Cardinals Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Mike Neu
Neu’s experience before being named the head coach at Ball State was mostly outside of the college ranks as he had a long coaching career in arena football before moving to the NFL.
Neu was a standout quarterback for Ball State, finishing his career as one of the best players in school history. In 1993, he led the Cardinals to a MAC Championship, finishing the year as the conference’s offensive player of the year and MVP.
After a brief playing career that spanned three countries (Canada, France, and the United States), Neu entered the coaching ranks, moving directly from backup quarterback of the Nashville Kats to quarterbacks coach for the Arena Football League team.
Neu actually took time off from coaching to work in scouting for the New Orleans Saints before landing his first college coaching job in 2006, as quarterbacks coach at Tulane. He moved to work for the Saints before Ball State hired him to be their head coach in 2016.
Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends, Jared Elliott
Jared Elliott worked his way up from a graduate assistant at Miami (OH) in the early 2010s through the D-III coaching ranks to where he is now at Ball State. Considered a great offensive mind, Elliott was a college wide receiver at Miami but has spent most of his professional career working with quarterbacks and tight ends.
Elliott came to Ball State via Western Illinois, where he started as quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator before being promoted to head coach in 2018.
He joined the Ball State staff in 2021 as passing-game coordinator and quarterbacks coach before being promoted to co-offensive coordinator before last season.
Defensive Coordinator/Inside Linebackers, Jeff Knowles
Jeff Knowles started coaching at his alma mater, Saint Francis, for six seasons before moving to NC State as a defensive quality control coach. His first on-field coaching experience at the Division I level came after a move to Northern Illinois.
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Originally hired as a linebackers coach, he added a defensive coordinator title at Northern Illinois. Later, he followed a similar trajectory at Temple.
Most recently, he was the defensive coordinator at FCS Butler before being hired at Ball State before this season.
Special Teams Coordinator/Outside Linebackers, Cory Connolly
Like many of the coaches on this staff, Cory Connolly was hired in an off-field role and worked his way up to his current position. Connolly was a graduate assistant in 2015, before Neu arrived at Ball State, reprising the role in 2016 and 2017 under Neu.
He took on linebacker coaching duties in 2018, adding a recruiting coordinator title in 2021 and the special teams coordinator title in 2022.
Assistant Head Coach/Quarterbacks Coach, Kevin Lynch
Kevin Lynch was a standout D-III wide receiver who joined Indiana’s staff in 2009 as an offensive quality control coach. In 2010, he moved over to the University of Indianapolis (D-II) and served in various roles on the offensive staff there.
Similarly, once he was hired at Ball State on Neu’s original staff, he served all over the staff in on- and off-field capacities while working his way up the coaching ladder. In 2020, he added offensive coordinator responsibilities while working with the running backs. He switched to quarterbacks in 2021, where he has been ever since.
Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line, Colin Johnson
A Ball State alum, Colin Johnson has been coaching with the Cardinals since 2019, when he was hired as offensive line coach from Butler.
Johnson was a three-year starter at center for the Cardinals from 2000-02, spending his final season as a team captain. He has experience coaching on both sides of the line and got his coaching start at Indiana in 2008.
Running Backs, Jeff Beckles
On paper, Jeff Beckles is Neu’s most high-profile coaching hire to date as he comes to Muncie, Ind., after eight years as a running backs coach at Middle Tennessee State.
Before coaching with the Blue Raiders, Beckles was a running backs coach at Samford, Central Michigan, and Troy. Before that, he had a short stint as a receiver coach at Georgia Southern and spent several years as a graduate assistant at Georgia. He joined the Ball State staff in 2024.
Wide Receivers, Shaq Vann
A standout running back at Eastern Michigan, Shaq Vann is just starting his coaching career, and he’ll start his first on-field role in the fall. Vann ran for over 2,500 yards as a running back at Eastern Michigan before serving as a graduate assistant thereafter.
He spent last year with the Washington Huskies, helping to coach an elite group of wide receivers before being hired as receivers coach for Ball State in Feb. 2024.
Defensive Line, Anthony Shakir
Anthony Shakir comes to Ball State after spending the last four years in the state of Tennessee at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and East Tennessee State University. Shakir coached at Appalachian State and Rochester before that.
Shakir played linebacker at Brevard College in North Carolina and got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant there in 2017.
Safeties, Nate Atkins
Nate Atkins was an unpaid assistant at William & Mary before being hired as a graduate assistant at Ball State in 2020. Atkins moved to Dayton to coach linebackers and special teams coordinator before moving back to Ball State in Feb. 2023.
Atkins coaches safeties and nickels for the Cardinals and racked up over 300 tackles in his four-year playing career at William & Mary.
Cornerbacks, Darrell Perkins
Darrell Perkins has one of the more interesting journeys in college football. After playing running back at Wyoming, Perkins left football and entered the restaurant industry, running an Applebee’s and eventually entering an owner-manager agreement with Chick-fil-A, becoming a franchisee.
He wanted to return to football, so he worked his way up from part-time assistant high school coach to college position coach, leaving Syracuse last year to coach at Ball State on Neu’s staff this year.
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