Hunter to Ball State?

ESPN's Andy Katz reports that Ron Hunter, IUPUI's coach since 1994 and the only Division I coach the Jaguars have had, likely will be Ball State's next coach. Hunter's long history of recruiting Indiana and his ties to the MAC (he played with Ron Harper at Miami in the 1980s, per the linked bio) make this a sound choice for Ball State. Hunter probably is best known for his flamboyant attire and his unrestrained celebration when IUPUI advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2003. Hunter adds quite a bit of substance to that style, however. When he took the job in 1994, the notion of IUPUI (then a faceless Division II program known as the "Metros," not yet the "Jaguars") playing in the Division I NCAA Tournament would have been absurd, yet it happened in Hunter's ninth season.

Other than IU's administration of the IUPUI campus, this story is relevant to the Hoosiers because several coaches with IU ties have been mentioned as candidates, including current IU assistant and former BSU head coach Ray McCallum, IU director of basketball operations and former BGSU coach Dan Dakich, and former Hoosier and current IPFW coach Dane Fife.

For what it's worth, Greg Fallon, subbing for Doug Zaleski on his blog, reports that one of his sources says that seven men remain under consideration: Ray McCallum, Brad Soderberg, Ron Hunter, Dan Hipsher, Joe Cravens, Robert McCullum and Dane Fife. I find it implausible, nearly a month later, that McCallum is interested. As the Cards' former head coach and a known quantity in Muncie, it' hard to imagine that BSU would need that long to decide to hire him or that McCallum would submit to a protracted set of interviews.