‘I’m ingrained in this place:’ Colin Johnson takes over as interim head coach for Ball State football

At 7:45 a.m., former Ball State football head coach Mike Neu addressed the staff and let them know he was being let go.

Concluding the Nov. 16 meeting, offensive line coach Colin Johnson went to Neu’s office to hug his former boss and give him his thanks. After the emotional meeting, Johnson saw a text message from athletic director Jeff Mitchell.

“I called him back, and he asked me if I would be willing to lead this team for the next two weeks,” Johnson said.

He said he was immediately overcome with all the feelings faced when a new challenge occurs.

“Am I ready for this? Is this something I can do? Is this the right thing to do? And luckily, quickly, the voice in my head said, ‘You’re ready for this,’” Johnson said. “So I told him, absolutely, and [I am] ready to get to work.”

His confidence was grounded because Johnson knows what the Ball State football program is, and what it aims to be.

Only two games remain for the Cardinals and Johnson’s interim tenure starts with facing Bowling Green State University (6-4, 5-1 MAC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Johnson said even though bowl eligibility is out of the picture, everybody has to play for the seniors in the locker room. Even more so against Bowling Green for senior day.

“Senior day is special because it’s a culmination of all the work that the seniors in your program have put together,” Johnson said. “…My goal is to see to it that they go out on the highest note possible, and that starts with getting a win here this Saturday, on senior day.”

The Cardinal. 

As a Ball State alum, Johnson has been a student on campus, sat in the same seats, put on the same jersey, played on the same field and shared the same locker room as current players.

Johnson played at Ball State from 1999-2002.

But before he had ever heard of Ball State, Johnson was a four-time Illinois high school football state champion.

Johnson first heard of Ball State in high school at Providence Catholic. Johnson was teammates with defensive coordinator Jeff Knowles when Knowles was a senior.

Heading into his junior year of high school, Johnson’s friends started visiting colleges.

“I went to my mom and said, ‘Hey, should we start planning for college by taking college visits?’” Johnson said. “She looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Son, I hate to tell you this, but the only way you’re going to be able to go to college is if you earn a scholarship.’

“…Right then it hit me, if I am going to college, I got to make sure I get it done on the football field.”

Heading into his final high school game, Johnson had zero scholarship offers. He was mainly getting recruited by FCS schools and Ball State.

The Cardinals got a look at Johnson in a camp the year before and Johnson’s coaches told the senior that Ball State liked what he did.

“I had no idea where Ball State was, but through that recruiting process, not only did I fall in love with the coaches, I fell in love with this place,” Johnson said.

Johnson remembers driving on State Road 332 into Muncie from Illinois on a cold December day, snow falling. Driving up on Tillotson, Johnson could see the Cardinal head logo above the stadium, a logo he said was “calling him home.”

“By the end of that visit, I knew this was where I wanted to be,” Johnson said. “One of the highlights of my life was sitting in that exit interview with Coach Lynch and [him] telling me that I had a scholarship opportunity to come to Ball State, and I committed on the spot.”

As a freshman Johnson felt lost and was unsure if he belonged or if he was a Division 1 football player. But the experiences as a Cardinal helped him learn how to be an athlete.

Johnson met all of his best friends in a “tight-knit community” that was Ball State. He met his wife and more.

“This place means so much more to me than you know someone who sees it as a job opportunity. I’m ingrained in this place,” Johnson said. “I would do anything and everything for this place.”

His experiences at Ball State and passion from former head coach Bill Lynch spurred Johnson to become a coach.

The coach. 

Even if Johnson is just an interim, does he want the head coaching job? “Absolutely.”

“When I left here, the dream was to be back here as a head coach,” Johnson said. “So as you can imagine, what I’m living right now is a little bit of that dream… It’s not something I take lightly.”

Johnson said he knows the responsibility it takes to lead young men and staffers and is a leader who is willing to step up to the challenge.

“Every level I’ve ever been at, I’ve been looked at as a leader,” Johnson said. “I don’t shy away from that. In high school football, I was a team captain. Certainly here at Ball State, I was one of our team captains, [and] I was on [the] leadership council. I’ve had to lead at every step, everywhere I’ve been.

“Certainly, when you’re the offensive line coach, it’s a big leadership position. You’re coaching the largest unit on the field. So it’s something I feel like I’ve always been prepared to do.”

After talking to the team and leadership council about his new position following Neu, Johnson said he has a sense of “100 percent support.”

His leadership with players is simple, “You are me, I am you.”

“To me, these kids are my brothers,” Johnson said. “When you share a bond like that, I think it’s important to not only myself but also to them. I think because of that, those kids know that I’m here for the right reasons, that I’m here for them.”

Johnson said he knows it is hard to connect with every play in two weeks, but plans on doing the most he can to be with the team. He was to be accessible to all players by greeting players in the building, he wants to pop his head into the training room to check on everyone, he wants to check in on the locker room and more.

“[It’s] more so than getting with each guy one on one and talking with them, I just want to be there for them, because they all have different things going on,” Johnson said.

Through a change in leadership, Johnson said the players have been resilient.

When Neu addressed the team, Johnson directed every player to go and thank Neu. Thank him for the opportunity they have, because none of them would be here without him.

Johnson said every single player also came up to him and gave him a hug to show support.

“You can’t help but feel that love,” Johnson said.

Regardless of what had happened a day earlier, the Cardinals were on the practice field Sunday.

“That’s the beauty of sports as a person is you’re not immune to all the things that go on around us,” Johnson said. “But we have a gateway to let some of that emotion, some of that anger, some of that aggression out once we get out in the practice field.

“It was a great practice, and I think those guys needed that, and I think they needed to be around each other, get back to their routine and play football.”

Coaches and staffers are aslo going through an adjustment after Neu’s firing. Regardless, Johnson said he has a lot of trust and faith in the staff to close out the final two games.

“I don’t worry about coaching our coaches,” Johnson said. “Certainly, I’m there for them to help motivate them and all those things. But we’ve gone through so much together over the years. I know I can rely on them.”

Graduate assistant Paxton Cottrell will take over coaching the offensive linemen for the remainder of the season.

Johnson said fans can expect him to give his all with the two games remaining.

“I owe it to this community to give my all,” Johnson said. “…I’ll tell you this. When we get this win on Saturday, it’s going to feel a whole heck of a lot better than what a lot of coaches feel when they win on Saturday. Because it’s different, it’s different.”

Two games to prove it. 

Johnson has a guaranteed two games. Eight quarters, 120 minutes.

Before stepping into the final two games, Johnson addressed the previous 51-48 overtime loss against Buffalo.

Johnson’s honest assessment of the Buffalo loss was the Cardinals did not make plays when it mattered most down the stretch. Johnson said Ball State has to make plays in the fourth quarter.

Johnson said players know what was lacking against Buffalo, and acknowledges their consistency needs to change.

“If you want to be great in athletics, you have to be consistent,” Johnsons said. “You can’t do it for three quarters and disappear in the fourth, that’s the bottom line. We you know on that last drive, we did not show up when we needed to in the fourth quarter.”

Johnson said the Cardinals are focused on mastering execution against the Falcons more than anything.

Johnson above all wants to see Ball State football have a long-lasting success.

“I’m going to do everything in my power here over the next two weeks, starting with this week, to see to it that this program stays on track and has success,” Johnson said.

Contact Elijah Poe via email at [email protected] or on X @ElijahPoe4.