Over The Pylon

Ask people who work in politics and they’ll tell you that Fridays are notorious for “taking out the trash”. That doesn’t mean you walk cans to the curb and/or dispose of the evidence you may have accumulated in the past week for various misdeeds and tomfoolery. It’s the day when if you’d like a story to not get much attention, you release it on Friday. The news cycle loses eyes as people prep for their weekend, hit happy hour, and/or get lost in a cloudy fog of Bennigan’s onion rings, dollar drafts, and parking lot bong rips with your barely legal server. Wait. What? I didn’t say anything.

I’m not saying that’s what BSU tried to do Friday with news of two new staffers, but assuming there are more important stories for the local papers to avoid covering along with this, I’d hate to see these two new graduate assistant coaches not get their due rewards of being immortalized on OTP. To the release!

Ball State third-year head football coach Pete Lembo has completed his staff for the 2013 season with the addition of two graduate assistant coaches.

Brandon Newman, who played for the Cardinals in 2013, has been named a graduate assistant for football operations, while Cris Reisert will assist the coaching staff as an offensive graduate assistant.

Newman spent his final season of collegiate eligibility at Ball State after graduating from Notre Dame in 2011. He played in all 13 games, including the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl St. Petersburg, and started eight games for the Cardinals while working on graduate classes in the 2012-13 academic year. Newman had a career high five tackles vs. Ohio plus managed four tackles at Clemson, at Central Michigan and at Toledo. He played four seasons at Notre Dame.

“Brandon was a great addition to our program as a graduate student-athlete in 2012,” Lembo says. “He is intelligent, mature and charismatic. Brandon will be an asset to our recruiting efforts and assisting with program operations. He knows the culture and the expectations. We are pleased he will be finishing up his master’s degree next spring and this opportunity will help make that happen.”

Reisert graduated from Ohio Dominican in 2009 and earned a master’s degree from ODU in 2011. One of the most decorated student-athletes in Ohio Dominican history, Reisert spent the last four seasons with the Panthers’ coaching staff and his second year coaching the wide receivers in 2012. Reisert helped oversee one of the country’s best offenses in 2012 as ODU ranked 12th in the country in scoring (40.8 points per game) and 27th in total offense (452.8 yards per game). In his four years at Ohio Dominican, Reisert played in 43 games for the Panthers. Reisert set nearly every conference record for passing offense, including throwing for 13,338 yards and 120 touchdowns. Reisert was all-conference first team in three of his four seasons at ODU. Reisert was named the 2007 MSFA Offensive Player of the Year and holds 10 national records. The two-time American Football Coaches Association All-American holds the career record with 1,710 pass attempts and 1,149 completions at the conference and national level. Reisert came to ODU from Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was inducted into the Moeller Hall of Fame in 2012. He and his wife, the former Emily Lamport, were married in 2011.

“Cris has a strong coaching background and an outgoing personality,” Lembo says. “He will fit right in with the rest of our offensive staff. We have been fortunate to get some experienced graduate assistants and Cris certainly fits that mold. He has worked with Nick Tabacca in the past, so it should be a smooth transition for him.”

Ball State will open the 2013 season Thurs., Aug. 29, with a 7 p.m. game vs. Illinois State in the Cardinals’ Scheumann Stadium.

I think it’s worth mentioning that these sort of opportunities for former players can only help on the recruiting trail. A proven track record of having the ability to land former players on staff is a huge selling point. Welcome to Cris! Good to still have you around to Brandon.

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