MUNCIE, Ind. — When Ball State football coach Mike Neu learned in August the NCAA had granted fall sports athletes an additional year of eligibility, he felt a sense of relief wash over his athletes.
Neu, who’d tried to keep his players aware of the fact a decision was coming, had been concerned for them after the Mid-American Conference’s postponement of all fall sports because of the pandemic. He knew he had more than 20 athletes on his team entering their final season of eligibility who didn’t know then what would come next, or what a spring season might look like.