Last summer, Ball State football coach Pete Lembo spent his first offseason waiting for a moving truck that was bringing his wife and children to Muncie and getting moved into his home.
This summer, football was the focus on the offseason.
It involved recruiting logistics: looking over transcripts and talking to potential players about scholarship offers. He even had a two-week period that involved summer camps at Scheumann Stadium and at other schools in the area.
Even with the "hectic June," as Lembo called it, he was still able to take his family for a vacation in South Carolina.
"Overall, it was a good summer," he said. "We took some time this year to get out of town, which was nice."
Coming off a 6-6 campaign in 2011, there's a different mood to the team in Lembo's second season when compared to former coach Stan Parrish's second season after a 2-10 record in 2009.
The coaching staff that Lembo brought with him from Elon University and other various schools from North Carolina is basically unchanged, as there is only one new coach in offensive line coach Nick Tabacca. With the consistency, Lembo is seeing an improvement in the routines.
"Things are a little more settled and structured in place in terms of day-to-day routines," Lembo said. "Heading into preseason camp, we don't take anything for granted, we certainly feel like the players know us and we know the players. We know the script, sort of speak. Everyone's mostly on the same page."
On the schedule, Ball State starts Mid-American Conference play immediately with a home game against Eastern Michigan. The game doesn't have the same appeal as a season opener at Lucas Oil Stadium against in-state opponent Indiana. But Lembo said his team will be just as prepared for the Eagles on Aug. 30.
"We've always taken a lot of pride in being as prepared as we can be," he said. "It makes it more important with it being a conference game, but the approach doesn't change."
The Cardinals will need to have a fast start to the season and make the most of its five home games on the schedule because of the non-conference schedule. After Eastern Michigan, Ball State has two consecutive road games against Clemson and Indiana. Clemson will be without wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who will miss the first two games of the season with a suspension.
Ball State then returns to Scheumann Stadium for a home game against South Florida. The final non-conference game is a road game against Army on Oct. 27.
But Lembo's focus is the season opener against Eastern Michigan and creating a winning culture at Scheumann Stadium. He has said in the past that winning games at home will bring more students to the game and make the stadium a tougher venue to play in for visiting teams.
"We're creating a confidence at home and an attitude at home where Scheumann Stadium becomes a tough place to play," Lembo said. "As you build the program, that's a piece that comes along."
He added that Eastern Michigan, which had a four-win improvement in 2011, is a tough and athletic team that is continuing to get better under coach Ron English.
"There's no question it's going to be a very difficult game for us," Lembo said.
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