BREAKING: Jeremy Ballard Becomes The Winningest Head Coach in FIU Men’s Basketball History

MIAMI, FL – Jeremy Ballard is the winningest coach in FIU men’s basketball history. The Panthers’ 74-59 win over the Long Island Sharks on Wednesday was Ballard’s 80th, passing Shakey Rodriguez who coached at FIU from 1995-2000.

“I’m getting to live a dream,” said Ballard following the win. “I get to do what I love with people who I love, the coaching staff who I love, at a university that I love, and the city that I love. Life is so good. I’ve been given so much grace, so much love, so many opportunities by so many people. I couldn’t do anything but be grateful. “There are so many people deserving of this opportunity that I have more deserving.”

Ballard was hired before the 2018-19 season, his first as a head coach at the Division I level. The Panthers had gone six seasons without finishing above .500 and hadn’t appeared in a postseason tournament since 1995.

In his first season at the helm, Ballard led FIU to a 20-14 record and a first-round victory at the Collegeinsider.com Tournament. Their 10 Conference-USA wins that year were FIU’s most since joining the conference in 2013.

“The character,” said Ballard when asked about the biggest change he has seen since arriving at FIU. “We’re trying to work on building the culture, everyone understanding what goes into winning. I know from the outside people can look at the record. The record is what it is okay. No one’s cutting nets down right now, no one’s handing out trophies right now and no one’s accepting invitations to the NCAA tournament right now.”

Ballard was the associate head coach at Virginia Commonwealth before coming to FIU. Before that, he spent 13 years as an assistant coach at the Division I level at Pittsburgh, Illinois State, Tulsa, and Colgate, his alma mater.

In 2014-15, during his first stint with VCU Ballard helped the Rams to their first Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament title in program history. VCU was ranked as high as No. 10 in the Associated Press Top-25 Poll during that year.