Nobody personifies just what it means to be a Purple Ace more than head coach Marty Simmons. One of the top players in program history enters his 11th season at the helm of his alma mater.
He did an admirable job in the 2016-17 campaign. Directing a team that lost the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in program history, the Purple Aces finished the season winning six of their final nine games to finish the year at 16-17.
Just a year earlier, UE had one of the most memorable seasons in its Division I history. Simmons helped the Purple Aces to a 25-9 mark and its second berth in the Missouri Valley Conference Championship game. UE finished second in the MVC in the regular season. During the 2015-16 season, D.J. Balentine became the program's all-time leading scorer, finishing his career with 2,464 points. Egidijus Mockevicius finished his time at UE with the most rebounds in Aces history.
In 2015, Simmons coached the Aces to a record of 24-12 and the CIT Championship. Evansville went 5-0 in the tournament en route to the championship. The record was the best for the program since the 1991-92 season. For the first time since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, the team had two players on the All-MVC First Team as D.J. Balentine and Egidijus Mockevicius garnered the accolade. With a win over #23 Northern Iowa on January 1, 2015, Simmons earned his fifth triumph over a ranked opponent.
His seventh year was a transition as his squad was the 4th-youngest squad in the country. Despite the youthfulness of the team, the talent level could not be questioned. As a sophomore, D.J. Balentine led the MVC and finished in the top 10 in the nation in scoring. Simmons helped fellow sophomore Egidijus Mockevicius become one of the top forces in the Valley. Mockevicius led the league in shooting and rebounding. He also coached son Blake to a berth on the MVC All-Freshman Team.
The 2012-13 season brought about milestones that had not been achieved in over a decade as University of Evansville men's basketball coach Marty Simmons led his Purple Aces to a 21-15 record. That mark included a 3-1 record in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament as the Aces won more postseasons games in a season since taking home the 1971 National Championship.
A banner season saw Colt Ryan break the UE career scoring mark with 2,279 points (6th in MVC history), Troy Taylor record the second triple-double in program history, another top four seed for the MVC Tournament and a sweep of eventual Final Four participant Wichita State.
Simmons has led the Aces to the postseason in fiveof the last seven years while going .500 or better in five out of those seasons; he helped UE to its best two MVC records (2012 and 2013) since the 1999 championship and has led the Purple Aces to three victories over ranked opponents, including a 2012 victory over No. 15 and eventual MVC champion Creighton at the Ford Center.
Prior to that, the 2011-12 season was full of memories as Simmons squad advanced to the postseason for the third time in four seasons, facing Princeton in the CBI. The Aces finished in third place in the Valley, their top finish since 1999 and picked up victories over defending national runner-up Butler in the season opener before downing Creighton, who was ranked 15th in the nation at the time. UE also picked up road victories at places it had not won at in a decade including Missouri State and Northern Iowa.
Simmons' success has been noticed by his peers. In three of the past five years, he has finished among the top four in voting for Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.
Simmons' 2010-11 team knocked off Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse in November to end the Bulldogs' 14-game homecourt winning streak. The Aces were one of only three teams to beat MVC regular season champ Missouri State during the regular season, and Evansville swept the regular season series with MVC Tournament champion Indiana State. In addition, sophomore #Colt Ryan# made the all-MVC second team, #Ned Cox# made the MVC All-Bench Team, and #Pieter van Tongeren# was chosen for the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team.
Simmons returned to his alma mater as head coach in the spring of 2007. His first squad finished 9-21, but one year later, in 2008-09, Simmons led his Aces to a 17-14 record and a berth in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Post-season Tournament. For his efforts, Simmons finished third in balloting for MVC Coach of the Year, trailing only the coaches who led their teams to a co-championship. The 2008-09 Aces achieved Evansville's best winning percentage since 2000, and first post-season appearance since 1999, when Simmons was an assistant coach with the Aces. Senior Shy Ely was second in voting for Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, and senior Jason Holsinger earned Academic All-America honors.
Even though the 2009-10 season yielded only nine victories, Evansville was the only team in the MVC without a scholarship senior, and by far the youngest team in the league. Despite playing four freshmen in most games, Simmons led the Aces to late-season victories over 22nd ranked Northern Iowa and Wichita State, the top two teams in the MVC. UE's Colt Ryan became Evansville's first MVC Freshman of the Year, and eventually earned the Mid-Major National Freshman of the Year award from CollegeInsider.com.
That set the stage for the much improved 2010-11 season, noted above, in which the Aces went from three league victories to nine.
Prior to his return to Evansville in 2007, Simmons served as head coach for five years at Division II Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where he took over a program that had not won 10 games since 1999 and led the Cougars to 23 wins in 2005 and 25 in 2006. SIUE reached the NCAA Tournament in 2005 for the first time in 15 years, and Simmons was chosen as Great Lakes Valley Coach of the Year. His 2006 squad did even better, winning three games in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championships and advancing to the Elite Eight. SIUE appeared in the national rankings 16 weeks.
A native of Lawrenceville, Ill., Simmons led Lawrenceville High School to back to back Class A state championships and became one of the most celebrated players in Illinois prep history. Affectionately known as ‘Mule,’ his 2,986 career points were the third most in Illinois history when he graduated in 1983.
Simmons played at Lawrenceville for Ron Felling, who went on to become an assistant coach at Indiana University. Simmons himself spent his first two years of college at Indiana. As a freshman, he was a key player on I.U.’s final eight team in the 1984 NCAA Tournament. The 1985 team at Indiana finished as runnerup in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT). It was during Indiana’s NIT run in 1985 when Indiana University assistant coach Jim Crews was chosen as Evansville’s head coach. Two months later, Simmons transferred to Evansville. Already designated as the Aces’ team captain while sitting out his redshirt season, Simmons immediately helped turn around the UE program when he became eligible in 1986-87. He averaged 22.4 points as a junior and led Evansville to a first place tie in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. As a senior, he finished sixth in the nation in scoring at 25.9, and finished ninth in balloting for the Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year. He led the Aces to a 21-8 record in 1988 and a first-round win over Utah in the NIT. It was Evansville’s first post-season appearance since 1982, and UE’s first post-season win at the Division I level. A first team all-MCC player in both of his seasons at UE, Simmons scored 750 points as a senior, the fourth most in school history. Despite playing only two seasons at Evansville, he ranks 22nd with 1,265 points.
Simmons played one season for the LaCrosse Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association, in 1988-89, and made the World Basketball League all-star team the following year while playing for the Illinois Express. He returned to the University of Evansville in 1990 as restricted earnings coach on Coach Crews’s staff, and remained in that position until taking the head coaching job in 1996-97 at Division III Wartburg (Iowa) College. Simmons returned to the University of Evansville the next season as a full-time assistant coach, and stayed at UE until taking the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville coaching job in April, 2002.
With Simmons on the staff, the Aces reached the NCAA Tournament in 1992, 1993 and 1999, and the NIT in 1994. In addition, they won two MCC and one MVC regular season titles, and two post-season conference tournaments. As recruiting coordinator, he brought in eight players who went on to play professional basketball, and every senior coached by Simmons received his undergraduate degree. He was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1994, and the University of Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997. Simmons received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UE in 1987, and his master’s in business administration in 1993.
Marty and his wife, Angie, who grew up in nearby Newburgh, have four children: Brittany, Kelsey, Blake, and Cole.
