FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Just two days after finishing their season with a 49-42 win over Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona University is starting the search for a new head football coach.
NAU announced Monday it has parted ways with head coach Chris Ball.
The 2023 season was Ball's fifth as the head coach at NAU after being hired in December 2018. Ball signed a five-year contract at the time and the school decided not to renew it.
NAU Athletic Director Mike Marlow said they will conduct a nationwide search for a new head coach and that the search will begin "immediately."
Ball's coaching staff has also been let go, according to Eric Newman from the Arizona Daily Sun, but they do have the option to be rehired by the new head coach.
Ball, the 30th head coach in NAU football's 107-year history, was hired after Jerome Souers stepped down after 21 years leading the Lumberjacks.
Ball has coached at various levels of college football since 1986. His most recent stops before NAU were as Arizona State's Co-Defensive Coordinator and Defensive Backs coach from 2012-2015 and then as the Defensive Coordinator at Memphis from 2016-2018.
Ball went 20-30 in his five years with NAU. His best season came in the shortened 2020 season, which was delayed until spring 2021 when NAU went 3-2.
This past season, NAU finished 5-6, which included wins over No. 13 Montana and No. 25 UC Davis. NAU finished 5-3 in Big Sky Conference play, which was their best conference record since 2017 when they went 6-2.
During his time with NAU, Ball showed he knew how to recruit the Grand Canyon State. This year, Ball had 72 players from 41 Arizona high schools on his roster (compared to 43 players from 27 Arizona high schools at ASU and 31 players from 23 Arizona high schools at Arizona).
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made the State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers also play at the Footprint. Phoenix has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall; and Cactus League Spring Training.
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