Fired coaches since Tom Collins became Ball State's athletics director in January 2006:
May 2006: Terri Laux, softball — Collins opted not to renew her contract after the team failed to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-consecutive year and finished the 2006 season 13-30.
December 2006: Randy Litchfield, women's volleyball — Collins fired the all-time winningest coach in Ball State women's volleyball for unknown reasons at the time. It would later be reported that Litchfield reported possible NCAA violations committed by then-men's basketball coach Ronny Thompson.
October 2009: Kathy Bull, women's tennis — Collins fired the 21-year Ball State coach Oct. 20 after the program had committed multiple self-reported NCAA violations, including Bull asking players to misreport the amount of practice time.
November 2009: Annette Payne, field hockey — Collins did not renew Payne's contract after her seventh season as Ball State's head coach. The Cardinals failed win an MAC championship with Payne and won a combined six games in the last two years.
November 2009: Michael Lovett, soccer — Collins did not renew Lovett's contract following the team failing to make the MAC Tournament for the first time in almost a decade. In his two seasons as Ball State's head coach, Lovett was 13-23-2.
Resigning coaches since Tom Collins became Ball State's athletics director in January 2006:
March 2006: Tim Buckley, men's basketball — Buckley resigned from Ball State shortly after Collins reassigned him from his head coaching position of six years to a fundraising position.
October 2006: Todd Lane, cross country — As the interim coach, Lane resigned midway through the 2006 season to become an assistant coach at Miami (Fla.). Without Lane, the Cardinals finished in fifth place at the MAC Championships.
April 2007: Lisa Simonton, gymnastics — Following her second season as Ball State's head coach, Simonton resigned for personal reasons. In her two seasons, the Cardinals highest finish was fourth place in the MAC Championships.
July 2007: Ronny Thompson, men's basketball — Less than one month after he found racist notes in his office, Thompson resigned and claimed the athletics department was a racially hostile environment.
January 2008: Michelle Salmon, soccer — After winning her second-consecutive MAC regular season championship in as many seasons at Ball State, Salmon resigned to become the head coach at Cincinnati.
April 2008: Tracey Roller, women's basketball — Taking a medical leave of absence midway through the 2007-08 season, Roller decided to step down from her position for personal reasons following the season.
December 2008: Brady Hoke, football — Failing to reach an agreement on a new contract, Hoke resigned to accept the head coaching position at San Diego State. At the time of his resignation, Ball State was 12-1 and ranked in the BCS standings.
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