We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?
IS IT TRUE that the University of Evansville has advised longtime basketball coach Marty “The Mule†Simmons that his contract will not be renewed putting Coach Simmons on the job market?…Coach Simmons has become a fixture around Evansville that many people will miss as he has reached out to the community for his tenure as the #1 Purple Ace?…very few people who discussed this with the CCO were not surprised by the news since under Marty’s leadership there have been no NCAA tournament appearances for the Aces?…there have also been no NIT (second tier tournament) appearances either during the last 11 years?…Simmons was a good player at Evansville and will be leaving with plenty of friends in Evansville, but if UE wants to have a Division 1 basketball program, the time to make a change at the top is now and should have been several years ago?…during the last eleven years the performance of the team has suffered and the attendance has too in spite of the opening of the Ford Center in downtown Evansville which was touted by former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel to be the magic elixir that would draw fans from miles around and resurrect the golden years of Purple Ace basketball?…while Weinzapfel may have been selling snake oil, Coach Simmons was not?…Marty did the best he could with what he had to work with?…if UE is seriously more than a coaching change is needed?
 IS IT TRUE that Marty Simmons has been the lowest paid coach in a second-tier conference since the day he was recruited to bring the Aces back to glory?…Simmons was earning a respectable $250,000 in a conference that has several coaches earning well over a million dollars per year?…Simmons was also strapped with a starvation budget when it comes to Division 1 basketball with respect to recruiting, travel, and even with practice facilities?…Marty even had difficulty signing players who wanted to stay local and lost some to Division 2 teams?…UE needs to realize that being competitive in Division 1 basketball requires paying a real Division 1 salary and providing a Division 1 budget?…it is blatantly obvious that a $127 Million arena is not the magic bullet?…the only thing close to a magic bullet is winning games against Top 40 teams and that takes players?…getting such players takes a coach who has a track record of developing NBA talent?…anything less will be futile?
IS IT TRUE that many names have been floated in the local media including Rick Pitino, Bruce Pearl, and local celebrity and former national college player of the year Calbert Cheney?…that the dreams of getting a big dollar proven coach are probably just dreams but the Calbert Cheney possibility is intriguing?…Cheney would immediately bring NBA credibility to UE and should certainly juice up the ticket sales that have been falling as quick as the season ticket holders pass away?…Cheney should be able to sign some real Division 1 players and have some winning seasons?…the disaster scenario is if UE gets a person like Cheney and puts him on a starvation budget like they have with every coach in two decades?
IS IT TRUE Division 1 basketball is not something that can be done successfully on a skinflint budget and sorry folks, $250,000 for a Division 1 coach is cheap?…UE made the mistake of trying to get a coach on the cheap with Simmons and with Steve Merfeld before him?…UE got what it paid for and that was a bunch of losses to the few good teams they played and no national respect even when they won 25 games over a bunch of lightweights?…it is time to perform or get off the pot?…either UE needs to make an investment in real Division 1 basketball or just go back to Division 2 which is where the championship banners were won?…a seriously competitive team year after year may help the Ford Center succeed but everyone with two brain cells who follows Aces basketball already knows that an expensive venue will not elevate a team?
IS IT TRUE it may well be that the University of Evansville and the City of Evansville are just too small to compete in Division 1 basketball?…UE has the 16 smallest enrollment of all of the teams that play Division 1 basketball?…there is a team called Gonzaga that was ranked #1 last year and made it to the final with an enrollment of 4,906 (double UE) and there is this small school called Duke that seems to compete every year?…the coach at Gonzaga makes $1.6M and the Duke coach makes $7.2M and is the highest paid coach in the country?…Duke University has only 6,484 students and also plays Division 1 football?…it is time for UE to stop pretending to be something they haven’t been in decades and either step up to the plate and compete or just live to beat USI and the rest of Division 2 as they once did on a regular basis?…that particular model won and filled up Roberts Stadium on a regular basis?
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We loved the Arad days in the lower division. The games were always well attended, it was excellent quality basketball, and a lot of fun. But this is Division I now, and I don’t agree that we should return to D-II, that isn’t what anybody wants. Maybe UofE doesn’t want to be known for a basketball program, maybe it wants to be known for academics, that’s a thought too. And hiring Rick Pitino? No thanks.
Ask old Evansville College grads about athletics. First mistake UE made was the move to remove a tradition rich football program in D3. The decrease in male enrollment started the downfall of athletics. I won’t debate the move to D1, but Title IX was a part of that decision too. IMO, UE should have remained D2 in basketball. You can’t compete in D1 and pay a coach $250,000.00. No one with any ability wants to be a head coach with that paltry salary. Add the lack of facilities and no real support from the administration, and you get little to choose from. If UE wants to play with the big boys, they have got to step up and make many costly changes. A school drawing an average 3700 fans cannot survive D1 costs no matter who coaches.
As usual, your bigotry (and little male ego) show your Title IX comment is ignorant, and most of all totally wrong.
There is nothing in Title IX or its policies that require schools to cut or reduce men’s opportunities in order to be Title IX compliant. In fact, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO) data confirms that 72 percent of colleges and universities that have added women’s teams have done so without cutting any teams for men
While there are schools where men’s teams have been eliminated, the TRUTH is that even more men’s teams have been added in the time since Title IX was enacted.
It is an absolute myth that Title IX laws force schools to cut men’s sports. Title IX in no way requires schools to cut men’s sports. Some schools have decided, with no outside persuasion, to eliminate certain men’s sports, like gymnastics and wrestling, rather than controlling the bloated football and basketball budgets, which consume 72 percent of the average Division I school’s total men’s athletic operating budget. That has NOTHING to do with Title IX.
Title IX helps schools. For example, when Title IX was signed in 1972, women earned just 7 percent of all law degrees. By 1997, that number had risen to 44 percent. As Title IX allowed more women to afford to attend university through academic and athletic scholarships, 41 percent of women earned medical degrees, whereas before in 1972, women only earned 9 percent of all medical degrees.
Before Title IX’s inception, only 1 in 27 girls played varsity sports, but today that figure is 1 in under 3. There are now a total of 2.8 million girls playing high school sports with the hopes of obtaining a scholarship in a university because of Title IX. Before Title IX, there were only 32,000 women competing at the intercollegiate level, now there are 150,000 competing women.
In addition, athletic scholarships were virtually nonexistent prior to Title IX, and now there are over 10,000 athletic scholarships awarded to women to compete at the collegiate level each year
In terms of the Division I aspect of UE, your postings have no basis in fact. Apparently, you just like to listen to yourself (since nobody else does)
The University of Evansville has an enrollment of just under 3,000 students. Yet in the over 1,000 polls conducted by the Associated Press in the last 60+ years, smaller schools have achieved success and rankings in the basketball polls. In fact, 57 different small enrollment schools have even been voted Number 1 in the national polls.
If you cannot post factual info, maybe step away from the keyboard
“if UE is seriously more than a coaching change is needed?”
if UE is serious then more than a coaching change is needed?
It probably was time fr Marty to go. But not to be unceremoniously dumped (kind of like Roberts Stadium) by an A D with a total of three and one-half years of loyalty to U E, and the blaring headlines about being fired. He deserves better.
Marty may be criticized for the results, but not for the effort he put into the job. For my part I wish him and his family well in their future endeavors.
Always figured Simmons would retire or resign once his son finished his Senior year. Surely Marty had to know he was on a.short leash after this year’s team performance. Surprized though that he had to be fired; figured the school administration and he would/could save face by announcing Marty was retiring/resigning to work as a celebrity spokesmodel for the Golden Corral.
Not surprized in the downturn in attendance at UE basketball games at the Ford Centet.
Poor team performance.
Tickets too expensive to take a family.
Seating too tight with no leg room.
Unlike Roberts Stadium, parking is a problem.
Concession prices are outrageous.
Why pay to watch them play when you can watch the games (including Ford Center home games) on Watch ESPN or FOX Sports GO.
Marty is a good man……….I remember back in the day throwing down some cold ones at the jimtown………….Marty and family will be fine………agree with dann the headlines are bullshit!!!!!………in my opinion the aces should have built a 4000 seat arena on campus……………..
UE could have raised the floor at Roberts and ended up with a 6,000 seat stadium with nice seats. It was walking distance from campus.
DC, well said. Coach Simmons and his staff did things right. Best to him and the other coaches.
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