When coach Pete Lembo was hired in December, he knew the task of rebuilding the Ball State football program would not be easy.
The Cardinals had won only 6 games in the past two seasons and finished last in the Football Bowl Subdivision for attendance in 2010.
But even with all the challenges that lay ahead, Lembo feels he has been in this situation before. He spent the previous five seasons at Football Championship Subdivision school Elon. In his five seasons at Elon, Lembo compiled a record of 35-22. The five seasons before Lembo arrived at Elon, the school went 14-42.
"It was very satisfying to prove at Elon that we could take a program that was in the basement and make it very successful," Lembo said. "That gave us confidence when this opportunity presented itself that hopefully we could do it again."
"Every school is different every school has different challenges, different problems you have to attack. Our plan has been flexible to the school. You can't ever take a cookie cutter approach to it."
As far back as he can remember, Lembo has always been passionate for football.
He said when he was introduced to football when he was eight-years old and was always fascinated by the team approach and the moving parts to the game. Lembo went onto play collegiate football at D-III Georgetown.
"As I was getting ready to graduate for college, when all of my buddies were going to either Wall Street or to law school I decided to break into the coaching profession," Lembo said.
His first coaching job began at the University of Albany as a graduate assistant, where he also earned his master's degree in public administration.
"The neat thing about that experience was he had a lot of responsibility despite being a graduate assistant," he said. "There were very few full time coaches there. By my second year there I was coaching the offensive line and going on the road and recruiting."
When he first got into the coaching profession, his goal was to always be a head coach at the bowl level. Lembo said he's never had a desire to coach in the NFL because he enjoys working with student-athletes and developing them as people.
In his office at Scheumann Stadium, he has a number of photographs of famous leaders in history. One notable photograph is one of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
"Whether it's a division one football program or a president or a prime minister, there's a lot of concepts that carry over," Lembo said. "At the end of the day it's about people and relationships. There's a lot to learn from Churchill or Ronald Reagan or the CEO of a company with a good management style."
Lembo said he uses those concepts to build relationships with other faculty at Ball State.
With the season opening game against Indiana on Sept. 3 drawing closer, Lembo is more "even-keeled" to get the season started.
"What I've found to be a successful formula is to be focused and be consistent," he said. "Get into a zone where you're never too emotional and never too flat. If you can get your team to do the same thing and focus on the process, not the results, you've got a chance to be successful."
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