MUNCIE — For most of Ball State's first spring practice, Paul Beatty was the only fan at Scheumann Stadium. Others shuffled in and out, but he stood on the west side of the field leaning forward against the black chain-link fence all afternoon, watching the birth of something new.
"It's kind of a new-life situation," he says, looking onward as an unfamiliar group of coaches worked through their first on-field work. "There's a lot of change, and there's new life out here. I guess that's how I look at spring practice."
The cool, spring weather was nice, too, and his wife wanted to go shopping.