NAU football hires former ASU assistant Chris Ball as new head coach

Northern Arizona University announced on Monday the hiring of Chris Ball as the new head football coach of the Lumberjacks, replacing longtime coach Jerome Souers, who accepted a new role with the school recently.

Ball has most recently been the defensive coordinator at Memphis under head coach Mike Norvell, who once was an assistant at Arizona State. Before that, Ball was a coach at ASU himself, serving after a co-defensive coordinator after a year of being the passing game coordinator and safeties coach.

He has also served on the staffs at Washington State, Pittsburgh, Alabama and others.

As the defensive coordinator at Memphis, Ball’s defense forced 80 turnovers from 2016-18, the fifth-most by an FBS school in that time span.

Ball becomes the 30th head coach in Lumberjacks history.

The announcement was made in a statement from Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Marlow, who said Ball has a proven “ability to effectively recruit in the state of Arizona and the West Coast.”

Ball played at Missouri Western State from 1982-85 as a defensive back.

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