Ball State basketball may not be long without a head coach.
According to a report from national college basketball insider Jon Rothstein on Thursday, March 19, Ball State is targeting Southern Methodist University assistant coach Chris Capko to be the Cardinals’ next head coach, and the university is actively working on a deal to hire him as the 21st head coach in program history.
Sources: Ball State has zeroed in on SMU’s Chris Capko to be its next head coach.
The two sides are now working through terms of a deal that would make Capko — who was instrumental in Andy Enfield’s success at both USC and SMU — the Cardinals’ next head coach.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 19, 2026
Capko brings 18 years of college coaching experience to the table and has recently been recognized as one of the top rising assistant coaches in the college basketball landscape. The Athletic named him one of the top Power 5 assistants in the country, and Silver Waves Media recognized him as one of the 50 most impactful high major assistant coaches in both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
A native of Lakeland, Florida, Capko began his playing career at Florida under then-coach Billy Donovan but transferred to South Florida after one semester. He became a standout player for the Bulls and was the team’s nominee for Big East Basketball Player of the Year as a senior.
Capko began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Marshall and went on to have assistant coaching stints at Stetson (2009-11) and Georgia Southern (2011-13). He joined Southern California as director of basketball operations from 2013-15, then spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach for Florida International before returning to USC as an assistant coach.
Most of Capko’s coaching experience has come as an assistant under Andy Enfield between USC and SMU. While at USC, Capko helped recruit and develop multiple future NBA players, including Evan Mobley, Isaiah Collier and Onyeka Okongwu. The Trojans signed eight consecutive top-30 recruiting classes during Capko’s eight seasons as an assistant coach.
Capko followed Enfield to SMU ahead of the 2024 season. He helped the Mustangs to a 24-11 season and the top seed in the NIT in 2024-25 and helped them to an NCAA Tournament appearance as a First Four team in 2025-26. The Mustangs lost to Miami (Ohio) on Wednesday, March 18 — the day before Rothstein reported that Capko and Ball State were hashing out a deal.
Ball State fired head coach Michael Lewis on Saturday, March 7, after four seasons.
Contact Cade Hampton via email at cbhampton@usatodayco.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @CadeHamp10.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Ball State basketball targeting SMU assistant Chris Capko as next coach