Jeremy Ballard set to return to coach FIU men’s hoops next season
FIU is bringing back Jeremy Ballard for his eighth season as the Panthers’ men’s basketball coach, a source has told The Herald.
Next season will be the last year on Ballard’s current contract.
Ballard, 43, had never been a head coach before joining the Panthers in April of 2018.
He inherited a 14-18 team and went 20-14 and 19-13 in his first two seasons at FIU.
However, FIU has since then suffered through five straight losing seasons.
Then again, FIU hasn’t had much success ever in men’s basketball, making the NCAA Tournament just once in 42 years overall and in 35 years as a Division I program.
That NCAA Tournament appearance happened in 1994-1995, when FIU went 11-19.
Since 2000-2001, FIU has had just three winning seasons, and two of those have come under Ballard.
That said, Ballard will be under pressure to produce a winning season in the final year of his contract.
It won’t be easy because FIU’s basketball program – traditionally -- has not been well supported financially, and that is an even bigger issue now in the era of NIL.
FIU finished 10-23 last season, but – as the 10th seed in the Conference USA tournament – the Panthers knocked off seventh-seeded Western Kentucky, 64-61, in the first round.
In the second round, FIU lost to second-seeded Jacksonville State, 65-56.
Ballard (98-124) has a losing record in his tenure at FIU. But he also has more Division I wins than any other FIU men’s basketball coach.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Mat Dunn is FIU’s new women’s soccer coach. He replaces Jonathan Garbar, who went 13-5-2 last season, losing to Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Dunn joins the Panthers after 14 years as the coach at Keiser University. A native of England, Dunn led Keiser to NAIA national titles in 2019 and in 2020. His teams made it to the Final Four of the national playoffs six times.
Garbar is now the associate head coach at Mississippi State.
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 6:07 PM.