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?