‘He finds a way’: A BSU football season amid a pandemic, through the eyes of the Cardinals’ chief of staff

MUNCIE, Ind. — In the aftermath of Ball State’s Mid-American Conference title, many with ties to the program took to social media to express admiration for a member of its support staff.

Their praise went to a man who, prior to taking a position with BSU ahead of the 2016 season, considered Muncie a “sight unseen.” Their praise highlighted the efforts of an individual who, while present in their lives daily, is not often the subject of headlines and highlight clips after Cardinals contests. Their praise showcased a level of appreciation for someone who, behind the scenes as the guy himself would say, helps Ball State perform the way it has this season.

►RELATED:Breaking down Ball State football’s 2021 recruiting class

►RELATED:How Ball State football won its conference title and reached the Arizona Bowl

“The Real MVP of (BSU football) …,” a tweet from defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach Tyler Stockton read, in part.

“Mr. Make It Happen …” read part of a tweet from redshirt junior inside linebacker Brandon Martin.

“G.O.A.T gets thrown around loosely...that being said, this guy is (‘THE G.O.A.T’)!” assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach Patrick Dougherty tweeted.

Stockton, Martin, Dougherty and more, including head coach Mike Neu, were talking about director of football administration/chief of staff Byron Ellis. Ellis is someone Neu would describe as his first hire upon assuming the role as BSU’s head coach. Ellis said he joked with Stockton that Stockton was exploiting him for likes and views, and that he doesn’t do what he does in search of any amount of credit — because what Ellis does is for the athletes.

And Ellis has done all that amid the current pandemic.

“It’s been different, but the saving grace is you’re doing this for the brotherhood,” Ellis said. “You’ve got all the players, all the staff counting on you and you bust your tail and it’s always great seeing these guys succeed on the field and in the classroom and all that. It makes everything all worthwhile.”

Ellis added: “Every day it seems like it’s a new challenge. There’s something that pops up that — you wouldn’t be able to make it up if you tried. It’s just something crazy each and every day.”

The easiest way Ellis believes he can put into words what his role is with the Cardinals is that, while Neu oversees everything that happens on the field, it’s his responsibility to take care of the rest. That means team travel, being a liaison for the BSU Athletics administration, organizing housing and meals, coordinating with the compliance staff and more. That means, as Neu would put it, being Neu’s “right-hand man.”

So in a year where everyone’s been forced to account for COVID-19, Ellis has had to adapt.

Ellis has worked with the medical staff to ensure Neu knows who is available, and who isn’t. Ellis, who’s looking forward to catching up on sleep after the season ends, remembers pacing around a room the day of the game against Toledo as he waited to learn whether his athletes had tested negative so they could make the trip. Traveling, in Ellis’ mind, has turned from a checklist he could run through with ease to something where “there’s curveballs each day.”

Instead of three team busses for road games, Ball State uses five or six so everyone can socially distance. Roommates have to sit close to each other on those buses because contact tracing is part of the equation, in addition to who rooms with whom being based on who lives with whom in Muncie and not on position groups. Team meals at the hotel are grab-and-go, and full team meetings don’t happen in person unless they can be in a room large enough where everyone can sit far enough apart.

Neu said he counts on Ellis as much as anyone in the program.

“No matter what the situation is, no matter what the challenges may be, no matter what it appears from the outside of how tough something — he makes it happen and he finds a way and he does it with a tremendous attitude,” Neu said. “He has just as much of an impact with these players as any coach does.”

Martin added: “He’s taken the situation that we’ve been in and made the most of it and did an awesome job and made it so we don’t have to worry about much of anything. He takes care of us.”

Part of what has helped enable Ellis to achieve what he has this year, he and Neu agree, goes back to the longstanding ties the two have with each other.

During Neu’s time as the head coach of an arena football team, the New Orleans VooDoo, Ellis worked there. During Neu’s time in the National Football League with the New Orleans Saints, Ellis worked there. During Neu’s time coaching at the college level at Tulane, Ellis worked there, too.

So Ellis, who considers his decision to come to Muncie emblematic of how much he believes in Neu, and Neu understand what to expect from each other.

Neu knows that, whether the Cardinals have a short or long week, the next day after the game Ellis will have a schedule for the next week ready to go. If adjustments need to be made because of, say, how late Ball State gets back after a road game, Neu knows Ellis will make the necessary adjustments. Neu said without their partnership BSU wouldn’t have reached the heights it has, and that as conversations abounded on the fate of the 2020 season, they had about 19 different calendars drawn up to account for each and every variable they could.

“Working with Coach for so long, I know how he ticks,” Ellis said. “I know things that he wants done. His attention to detail, he wants that from top down for everything. If there’s a misspelled word, if a font is off on an itinerary or something like that, it’s attention to detail, attention to detail. Knowing what he wants is a huge part of my job, that way I don’t have to go ask him every five minutes, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about that?’ He trusts me to get stuff done.”

Neu added: “I’m obviously a big believer in just attention to detail and taking pride in the little things, and he and I have worked so hard — we know each other like the back of our hands. Some ways that’s good, some ways that might not be so good, but we know each other to a T and so he knows how I think, I know how he thinks, and so when you’re talking about planning out a calendar and making sure it’s planned out to a T, we’ve been working on that together for many years.”

Of course, Neu isn’t afraid to give Ellis a hard time.

Back when they were with the VooDoo, there was a time when Ellis sent Neu something where the font size for one player’s information was smaller than another’s. So Neu said he asked Ellis if Ellis liked one guy better than the other. Ellis said he responded, “Come on, man.”

“That’s what keeps both of us sharp, keeping each other on point and making sure that we don’t leave any stone unturned,” Neu said. “It’s the little things and the details to try to get yourself to a championship level.”

This week, Ball State (6-1) will face San Jose State (7-0) in the Arizona Bowl. The Cardinals won’t enjoy the same pre-bowl festivities they would have had the pandemic not happened. But they’ll still be able to enjoy the warmer weather and more, and prepare for what could be a seventh victory this season.

Whatever happens, BSU will be operating with a man in Ellis that those like Martin have full confidence in.

“He’s same old Byron,” said Martin, describing Ellis’ presence this season. "I mean, he’s ice cold. He gets the job done.”

Martin added: “He didn’t flinch for a second.”

Jordan Guskey covers Ball State and East Central Indiana high schools at the Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5813, jmguskey@muncie.gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.