Messages

Yeah, for one of us at Valpo to be suggesting a drop to D3 for Evansville would be really self-unaware. Glass houses and all that. 

Funny, I said pretty much the same thing on our board regarding this thread. I am not going to come on your board and fire back at your program, but there is quite a bit the OP has left out.  Things like overall facilities, community support and resources, etc. He apparently isn't also aware that we recently got rid of our pathetic AD, hired a national search firm, and lured away a current D-1 AD from Cal-Bakersfield. Like I said, I don't want to engage in a back and forth here on your board. I would cordially invite vu72 to visit our board, learn what we have been doing to correct our MBB and overall athletic situation. For the first time in years, we have heard our newer president and new AD adamantly state their strong desires to do whatever is necessary to be a regular conference competitor. The new AD went as far as stating we are a sleeping giant in his presser. Talk is talk, but it sure beats the shrugged shoulders we have been accustomed to. He is also welcome to engage us in a respectful discussion if he chooses.  Both schools have faced similar financial decisions in recent years. There is no brick and glass. At least we got baseball figured out this year.

E-Villan, thanks for your response and appreciate you not throwing me under the bus!  I am truly glad that things are on the right track for Evansville's sake as well as the entire Valley. You are correct that we both, as well as thousands of other private and public institutions, face continued financial struggles. We all do well when everyone does well.  Hopefully your basketball programs will improve as well.  As an "older" member of this board, I can tell you of the terror we Valpo fans felt when the National Champion Purple Aces came to town with their floor length robes! Why did you change those? 

I HOPE we are on the right track. The AD has been named all of two weeks. We have seen more communication from him in those two weeks than we did our previous one in 8 years. Our current president came in right as the McCarty fiasco was starting, so this has been his first chance to lead changes in the athletics department.

The status on Lickliter is still in the air. Many of our fans expect our new AD to fire him right away. Realistically, I think it is unfair to expect a guy to make a career-defining move as soon as he takes a position. I would rather he takes the time to develop the correct path, even if it means we have to burn the final year of Lickliter's contract. The problems aren't all on him, but he just isn't capable of the rebuild we need. His success at Butler was from a standpoint of maintaining, not rebuilding a program after the firestorm McCarty left. We need someone who can not only coach game plans for today's game, but can engage the community. Laid back and introverted isn't what we need.

The robes might be a little tough to bring back, but I can tell you that you won't find too many UE fans that would object to the sleeves coming back.

Yeah, for one of us at Valpo to be suggesting a drop to D3 for Evansville would be really self-unaware. Glass houses and all that. 

Funny, I said pretty much the same thing on our board regarding this thread. I am not going to come on your board and fire back at your program, but there is quite a bit the OP has left out.  Things like overall facilities, community support and resources, etc. He apparently isn't also aware that we recently got rid of our pathetic AD, hired a national search firm, and lured away a current D-1 AD from Cal-Bakersfield.

Like I said, I don't want to engage in a back and forth here on your board. I would cordially invite vu72 to visit our board, learn what we have been doing to correct our MBB and overall athletic situation. For the first time in years, we have heard our newer president and new AD adamantly state their strong desires to do whatever is necessary to be a regular conference competitor. The new AD went as far as stating we are a sleeping giant in his presser. Talk is talk, but it sure beats the shrugged shoulders we have been accustomed to. He is also welcome to engage us in a respectful discussion if he chooses.  Both schools have faced similar financial decisions in recent years. There is no brick and glass.

At least we got baseball figured out this year.

Hey guys, here is the correct Evansville forum. The one you currently have shut down a couple of years ago.

https://purpleaceplace.freeforums.net/

Hey Guys,

Can someone update your link to the Evansville forum? Our new one is up and running.

purpleaceplace.com

Thanks!

Evansville is the one program I genuinely don't like as a program. I've covered why at length many places. My thoughts, and many others, can be summed up in the statement of "why public's don't like adding small private schools making a significant jump in competition and what happens when it goes wrong". I have nothing against their fans, per se. My issue is they have been the epitome of private school issues when it comes to competing, yet railing against public schools joining.

Since UNI is my least favorite league program, I guess we are even.

I realize this is the Valpo board, but the ignorance in this comment deserves some clarification.

1. We actually downgraded in competition a tad when we moved from the MCC to the MVC. The MCC overall was a stronger conference. It was the implosion, and impending infusion of the public commuter schools which resulted in us taking the MVC invite. A small, but necessary step backwards. Those MCC championship teams would do very well in the MVC. Our problems have been internal leadership, not the league.

2. There is no railing here against a public, and I assume you mean Murray joining the league. For a fact, I am pretty sure our AD is the only one who has publicly spoken in favor of Murray joining. He has been quite adamant about them joining, even with it resulting in an odd 11. There is a large number of Murray alums living in the Evansville area, and we play them regularly in just about every sport. From a purely selfish angle, there is no school UE would rather have in the league than Murray. The only people around here who would be against them in the MVC is the CVB, since they will bring thousands here this weekend for the OVC tournament.

While it has yet to be proven on the court, it appears we have addressed our deficiencies, certainly with resources and commitment to the basketball program. Meanwhile, your attendance is bad, and your high dollar veteran coach nearly ended up on Thursday night for the second consecutive year. Sorry, but there just isn't anything at a teachers college in the boondocks of Iowa that should intimidate Valpo, UE or anyone else in the conference.

Again, my apologies to the Valpo fans, but the irony of an obnoxious poster going to the Valpo board to call you obnoxious was just too much to pass up.

Remember, that is still only about half of what we were consistently averaging before the Marty Simmons abyss.

I do like the twitter trash talking between Bradley and UE.


The demographics of themselves really aren't an apple to apple comparison. Vanderburgh County is geographically very small. There is a sizeable amount of population in Warrick County that sits up against the county line..not to mention Henderson, KY across the river. Evansville is the hub city for about 500,000 people in a 35 mile radius.

The Region has more population, I believe somewhere around 700K in Indiana. Valparaiso is only a splintered part of that, not the hub. I guess the hub in essence is Chicago.

Peoria and Evansville compare very closely in population, demographics and in the fact both are mid-sized cities which dominate a tightly packed metropolitan area. Valparaiso is just a part of a much larger overall metro area. 

Without going through all of your facilities posts, and I apologize for bringing up a question that has already been discussed, but if a state of the art, 9-10K seat arena was built in a strategically favorable location in the Region, could Valpo get closer to the 5-6K range in attendance? From the outside looking in, I would think it is very possible.

I will tell you there is another P6 road game, one that had a much higher RPI than Illinois, 3 solid regional programs, and no SWAC teams at this point.

It was way deeper than Marty. Sure, he was a wet blanket on the program, and had the PR skills of a sign post, but the last two presidents were most of the issue. Neither had much appetite for athletics, instead focusing on international recruitment, and liberal arts causes. We now have a very strong AD, and the incoming president has an extensive background in NCAA athletics, along with his wife.  Boosters are coming out of the woodwork, season ticket sales are soaring. Money is coming in and being spent. From what I have seen of the non-con, Walter wasn't joking when he said we needed to play tough teams.  No one knows how this will translate on the court, but the foundation is better than it has been in 20 years.

Since either I am not smart enough to quote, or you have to have special Lutheran access, I will simply reply to UNI in regards that we did not step up in conference affiliation, rather a small step backwards. The MCC was a better conference top to bottom and we handled it quite well. Our first years in the Valley were fine. Our problems didn't start with the Valley, rather some horrible administration hires, that had little fire for athletics.


Congrats on having the better pool.

Wow...that's some pretty lofty smack 1314 against a program you are a whopping 17-68 against lifetime, and haven't beaten in 11 years, but whatever makes you feel good.

I won't come on your board and start a yanker measuring contest..I will leave that to the UNI boy, but a UNI and Valpo fan dissing Evansville in a thread titled "facilities" is more than amusing.

Same here. Glad your guys made it down safely. I do find it interesting you flew here. Is that normal? I think we only fly to the Iowa games. I am not sure about Missouri State, I do know they bus here as I ran into their team at a local hotel a couple of years ago.

Unfortunately, with or without bad weather, the attendance will be mediocre at best. Martyball is wearing very thin around here.

Both sides look kind of stupid here too unless there's some language in the agreement and or evidence we're not privy to. Suing the MVC seems foolish because it's extremely likely that the MVC's main inducement to Valpo was being a better more attractive more stable conference  Doug Elgin even credits Valpo for luring them. However Evansville may have been chosen because it's 1. In Indiana and would have jurisdiction on those grounds and a former HL\current Valley city with a rumored HL target (USI) and a fanbase that likely has fonder feelings for the HL where they were a power than the Valley where they struggle. Great way to get your name out in an important city for the HL wherein they should find a sympathetic populace that can't really be found in any other Indiana city. Also Heckler thinking his language wouldn't apply to Valpo seems a bit naive unless there's language in there that we don't know.

I am unsure why it was filed in Evansville as well. Seems like Evansville or Terre Haute would be the last two Indiana cities the Horizon would want to file a suit involving the Valley. To clarify, Evansville was never in the Horizon. It was still the MCC at that time, and of the current Horizon teams, only Detroit was a conference mate of ours.  It didn't change to the Horizon until all of the Mid-Con Hyphens came, which was after we left. I don't think you could find 12 people total that would ever associate UE with the Horizon, let alone fill a jury.  Most people around here don't see USI even going D-1 anytime soon, let alone associate them with the Horizon. UE will be starting it's 24th season in the Valley this year. There is absolutely no way the Horizon could even come close to being viewed as favorably as the Valley around here. Of the larger Indiana markets, Indy and Ft. Wayne would be far more favorable to the Horizon than Evansville.

"I wonder how they chose the sites? Are they randomly picked? Rotated? Best arenas/venues possible?

Anyone know if or when Valpo will host any these events in the future? No surprise we're not hosting anything next season because we're the new guys on the block."

Here is a link to the 2015-16 sites. As you can see, Loyola was hosting fairly soon. Everything besides basketball is rotated pretty well. I would think Valpo would be in the rotations as soon as next year.

http://www.archmadness.com/news/archives/2014-15/8157/mvc-announces-2015-16-championship-sites/#.WTeDkevyupo

I agree, Purdue-Northeast screams community college.

I don't understand the legalities, but it seems if Southern Indiana could break off from ISU, IPFW should be able to do the same. I would think all the justifications for doing it in Evansville would be in play in Ft. Wayne. Southern Indiana and Northern Indiana. Seems logical.

The irony of joining a private schools board and then proceeding to bash private schools....someone is a little obsessive and clearly has too much time on his hands.

I thought I had heard every story regarding the crash, but I don't recall ever hearing the Valpo angle, and shared flight.  If we had just been able to keep the original plans and plane.....


As a 13 year old in Evansville, that night will always be vivid in my mind. We were actually at UE about the time it happened. My sister was taking weekly gymnastics lessons there, and I tagged along with my Mom and her that night. I ducked out of the gym they were in, and headed down the hall, hoping to catch a basketball practice...something I had been able to do a few times. That gym was empty, and a man walked by and said the team was on it's way to Middle Tennessee.


It wasn't until we were on our way home that we heard there was a crash at the airport, and longer after that before we knew it was the Aces.


Maybe the saddest twist of that event was the redshirt, who sat out the flight, only to be killed in a car accident two weeks later.


Anyway, my guess is that it was Simmons who chucked the free throws that night in 87?

I am familiar with Tiebels as well. For us Evansville fans, the directions to a game up there is pretty simple. US 41 North until you get to Tiebles, stop for chicken, then hang a right on US 30.  Hope to make it up there for a game. If I can take in Valpo and Loyola, that would give me every MVC arena except the Iowa ones.


Congrats on the invite. It's been too long since the ICC days. Glad to renew the long time rivalry, and hope to see some of the Valpo fans in the Ford Center this year.

I guess I haven't been a member long enough to be in the cool club that can quote, but I will let a Valpo fan answer the question about what UE player transfered to Valpo.

I will just say I hope he worked out better for you than Bryan Bouchie did for us. I will cut him some slack as I am sure he isn't the first person who barfed at McDonalds though.

The UNI's fan vendetta against all things Evansville is certainly over the top, and appears more personal than anything.


I am not going to defend everything because there is quite a bit of validity to it, but it can be stated without being a prick about it.


I come to this board to see how the thoughts are of Valpo fans joining the Valley, not subject you guys to a UNI-UE pissing match.


For the last decade or so, UNI has had a solid program, and better than UE. No question. The thing about basketball history though, you can draw a line anywhere. Since I am an old guy, I will go back much farther..from the 50's through 2000, UE was clearly the better program that entire time. Both schools were in the old college division, where UE won (5) national titles, and UNI I believe won..zero. Despite having the entire program wiped out by a tragic plane crash in '77, UE was still managed to be the stronger program through the 80's and 90's. Not to mention much stronger support, with many seasons averaging well over 10K. Something I don't think UNI has ever done.


Yes, our last decade under Simmons has been mediocre, and yours under Jacobson has been very solid. Despite the suckitude, we have still had a better decade than Bradley, Drake, Missouri State, Loyola, SIU. I don't hang my hat on that, and it is certainly not anything to be proud of, but it does make me question why you always throw us to the bottom first. You act like we are all happy and content, which is BS. We have lost over half of our fans since Marty has been here.


I will agree with you on the scheduling, although that should really be called Simmon-sing. There is no question he schedules to save his rear, which is BS, and despised by most of our fans. We know we paid dearly for it last year. For the Valpo fans, that phrase was started by Wichita fans after we swept the regular season from them the year they ended up in the final four. They also created a brand for flopping and dropping which is tied to another school in our league, but I won't bring that one up..........


Wichita was able to distance itself from the rest of the league. I just don't see anyone else close to that point. Our basketball budget is identical to UNI's, both near the top of the league. Our facilities have all been upgraded to among the best in the league, and we play in the nicest arena in the league...not to mention our fanbase and market is larger.  You smoke us in the coaching department, and as long as Simmons and Jacobson are in place, you will continue to do so. I hope Jacobson retires there, and any advise you have in helping us rid ourselves of Marty would certainly be welcome, instead of snarky attacks.

I was always curious how Valpo got left out of that Mid-Con group that got into the MCC in the mid-90s? I know it was after we left, but I never heard the logic of that, especially considering Valpo was the only school that actually fit the original MCC profile of being all private.

Good to see a Detroit poster. Good memories of the MCC days, except for the '88 MCC Semi-Final when Archie Tullus single-handedly knocked out what was Jim Crews' best Aces team to date. That loss knocked them off of the bubble and into the NIT, keeping Marty Simmons from ever playing in a NCAA game. Now that I think about it, there may be a pattern emerging here with that.

Dave Reynolds stated that UE would be announcing within a week a move back to the Horizon.


That was about 4 years ago..............................


Wouldn't read too much into anything he tweets.

Evansville fan here. I too feel you are on the short list, and personally hope you are the first call. I would also like to see Belmont, and a FCS public, such as Murray State added. This would bring the Valley to (6) similar publics, and (6) very similar privates.


I wouldn't be too worried about a FBS defection anytime soon. UNI could, but seems unlikely in the next 5 years. The State of Illinois is in deep financial straits, with some serious budget cutting taking place. Don't see ILSU being able to make any such move for quite some time. Same for Southern. Indiana State is already spending considerably less than the rest of the Valley on basketball. There is no way they can pool anymore for FBS. MSU could end up in the Sun Belt, but again, just don't see them taking that plunge, especially considering the state of the basketball program. I do feel at some point, the same differences that imploded the Big East could do the same here, with the MVFC going one way, and the privates another. If Valpo and Belmont are with the privates, simply adding an Oakland, Detroit and or Denver, and you would have a good starting point for a "Midwest Private League".


IMO, the MVC will be fine IF: 1. League expansion to 12 with 2 solid privates..ie Valpo and Belmont, and a FCS public such as Murray State.


2. The schools also enact a tough OOC scheduling mandate, similar to what was in place when we sent 4 to the NCAA in '06. I am not sitting in a glass house. I fully realize Marty has been one of the worst offenders of this. We paid dearly for this last year, with 26 wins, a 2nd place in both the regular season, and MVC tournament, and not even a NIT sniff. Trust me, most UE fans are growing tired of Martyball, and we are certainly tired of his pansy OOC scheduling.


Sorry to invade your board. Good luck, and hopefully when the dust settles, we can renew our long rivalry in a conference setting.