Marty Simmons was fired on Tuesday after eleven seasons as the head coach at his alma mater Evansville. Simmons was 184-175 during that tenure and 33-32 over the last two seasons.
Though Simmons did win the CIT with Evansville in 2015, he was never able to get over the hump and get the Purple Aces back into the NCAA Tournament. The closest was perhaps in 2015-16, when Simmons’ team went 25-9 and finished tied for 2nd in the MVC.
This will be an interesting coaching search to follow, as there are a number of logical candidates for the position. Kansas State associate head coach Chris Lowery is someone who jumps out right away. The Evansville-native was the head coach at SIU for eight years, winning two MVC titles and leading the Salukis to the 2007 Sweet Sixteen.
Other Evansville guys that could make sense include Boston Celtics assistant Walter McCarty and former Saint Louis assistant and IU Hoosiers‘ star Calbert Cheaney. Other names to watch are Jon Coffman (Fort Wayne head coach) and Chris Hollender (Mizzou assistant and UE grad).
