July 22, 2026
Fortuitous timing brought Mike Ferrell to Tri-State University.
After four years at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, he and his wife were looking to move closer to her family in the Angola area.
“I called the athletic/physical education director to see if Tri-State had an opening in the physical education department or a soccer position,” he recalled. “He asked how I knew the soccer coach had resigned that day. I did not know that.”
Mike applied for and got the position, joining Tri-State in the fall of 1998 as head men’s soccer coach and a faculty member in the physical education department. He also was asked to start a women’s soccer program.
Thus began a 38-year tenure at Tri-State and Trine that will come to an end with his retirement on Aug. 7.
Diverse career within Trine
Mike said he never had thoughts of leaving, due to the family ties in the area. However, he has moved on to several different positions within the university.
In spring 2004, he became the university’s director of development, then moved back to head men’s soccer coach and director of the Thunder Club in 2008.
In 2012, he became director of conferences and events and remained as assistant men’s soccer coach. When the Thunder Ice Arena opened in 2017, he became manager of that facility as well as intramural director, while keeping his conferences and events role.
He has continued to serve solely as Thunder Ice Arena manager since 2018.
He has witnessed “unbelievable” growth during his time at Tri-State and Trine.
“Enrollment has skyrocketed and we have been building a new building every year since the first apartment buildings went up,” he said.
Other changes he’s seen include that “coaches only coach now instead of teaching 12 hours a semester, we have moved from NAIA to NCAA Division III, we went from quarters to semesters, we changed our name and the food in the cafeteria is 100% better.”
Soccer and family memories
His favorite memories involve soccer, family or both. His son was a freshman on the soccer team in 2003 and they coached the team together from 2008-2016.
“In 1992, my first recruiting class were seniors, so we were expecting to have a great season,” he recalled. “We ended up having several injuries at the beginning of the season and were 3-10; then we got most everyone healthy and went 8-2-1 for the rest of the season, giving us a record of 11-12-1. We won the District 23 championship and then won the Bi-District 21/23 championship and lost in the regional tournament. So that was a great outcome for a great group of seniors.”
The team’s best seasons came in 1994 and 1995, when they went 21-3-1 and 20-5.
Mike and his wife plan to travel in retirement and also attend most of their two grandsons’ hockey games.
He said it’s been a “wonderful” 38 years at Tri-State and Trine.
“I am grateful to all the people at Trine University that have helped me along the way,” he said.
A faculty member in Trine University’s Allen School of Engineering and Computing has received a $5,000 grant to write an open education resource (OER) textbook for a new class to be offered beginning in the fall.
A Trine University graduate has co-founded a new risk management and health employee benefits startup company with a mission to help employers strategically control costs while improving employee well-being.
Trine University will welcome visiting students with themed spirit days and giveaways as part of Indiana Private College Week, July 20-24.