My DREAM Evansville Coach

[E-Ville]

JERRY SLOAN.

If the Jazz ever decide to part ways with him and he wants to stay in coaching why not come back to his former school. I hear he comes back to the area every off-season and still loves it here. :aces:

Does anybody know why Crews was let go in the first place? He's not doing very well at all with Army. I also wouldn't mind seeing Evansville and Crews re-uniting, hey we won an MVC Title with him at the helm. :aces:

[jt45]

That is not a bad want at all. Jerry sloan is a very good basketball mind and Crews is a good coach as well. I really don't know what happened with him at Evansville. Both guys are products of Southern Illinois and I have had the opportunity to meet both these fine gentlemen. I think Crews started out coaching at Carlyle IL. and I know Sloan is from McLeansboro. Jerry has a cancer benefit every year and Karl Malone was around the area last year for it. Ran into him at a restaurant and damn is he a biggn'!

[outpost]

I'd also think that there might be one or two of Crews' former players who might make good coaches. I'll say this.....when Crews was at UE, those players were well-coached.

[MSNSaluki]

crews was a good coach but he was kind of a tool.
crazy how his star fell ... at one point, he was mentioned as a possibility at indiana when knight left. now he's at army and struggling.

[Ace Happy]

Wow.....guess I'm an old timer to have to update the board on the departure of Crews.

The writing was on the wall for Crews:

- Declining program - losing seasons were becoming common after his MVC championship in 1999. MVC was getting stronger and Crews' recruits were not up to the task.

- Declining attendance

- Poor relationship with press and becoming more withdrawn from the community. Crews appeared burned out.

- New Athletic Director hired to revitalize UE sports who was going to make changes.

Now, one could make a good argument that the above issues remain at UE, despite changes made. Certainly, Jim Crews did some good things at UE, but the general feeling at the time was that it was good that he departed.

[jt45]

Wow.....guess I'm an old timer to have to update the board on the departure of Crews.

The writing was on the wall for Crews:

- Declining program - losing seasons were becoming common after his MVC championship in 1999. MVC was getting stronger and Crews' recruits were not up to the task.

- Declining attendance

- Poor relationship with press and becoming more withdrawn from the community. Crews appeared burned out.

- New Athletic Director hired to revitalize UE sports who was going to make changes.

Now, one could make a good argument that the above issues remain at UE, despite changes made. Certainly, Jim Crews did some good things at UE, but the general feeling at the time was that it was good that he departed.
OK, I'll make the argument. Yeah that was a good call. You get rid of a coach that has won a MVC championship and wail in mediocrity, which it turns out has really panned out for the ACES and their attendence. I went to a game in Eville two years ago and I am here to tell ya, I've been to high school games in So Ill that have had more people there.

[Ace Happy]

OK, I'll make the argument. Yeah that was a good call. You get rid of a coach that has won a MVC championship and wail in mediocrity, which it turns out has really panned out for the ACES and their attendence. I went to a game in Eville two years ago and I am here to tell ya, I've been to high school games in So Ill that have had more people there.

Yep, understand the criticism.

BTW, we average around 5500 a game now. I can remember 10,000 a game when I started attending in 1993. We've been in steady decline ever since, even during the Crews years.

Re: your comment on HS game attendance. Not too many high school games that I've been to have 5500 fans in attendance, but I wouldn't know about southern Illinois.

[Ace Happy]

Just for fun, I grabbed some attendance figures from the NCAA website on UE and SIU due the declining attedance at UE games and to give a little history lesson to my SIU friend. The comparison shows to me that the basketball magic that was once in Evansville has faded and it will take lots more wins to get the program back on track.

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/index.html

Year UE SIU

1993 11,740 6,575
1994 10,230 4,996
1995 10,489 6,442
1996 10,457 3,998
1997 8,348 3,566
1998 8,177 3,420
1999 8,587 3,345
2000 8,337 5,008
2001 7,148 4,483
2002 5,822 6,423
2003 6,671 6,567
2004 6,618 6,698
2005 6,318 6,730

Clearly, with a Robert's stadium capacity just under 12,000, the attendance issue has certainly become more glaring over time. This seriously hurts UE's ability to fund their sports programs.

[jt45]

Just for fun, I grabbed some attendance figures from the NCAA website on UE and SIU due the declining attedance at UE games and to give a little history lesson to my SIU friend. The comparison shows to me that the basketball magic that was once in Evansville has faded and it will take lots more wins to get the program back on track.

http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/attendance/index.html

Year UE SIU

1993 11,740 6,575
1994 10,230 4,996
1995 10,489 6,442
1996 10,457 3,998
1997 8,348 3,566
1998 8,177 3,420
1999 8,587 3,345
2000 8,337 5,008
2001 7,148 4,483
2002 5,822 6,423
2003 6,671 6,567
2004 6,618 6,698
2005 6,318 6,730

Clearly, with a Robert's stadium capacity just under 12,000, the attendance issue has certainly become more glaring over time. This seriously hurts UE's ability to fund their sports programs.Yeah, I agree whole hearted winning cures what ails ya. I was a very big fan of Crews maybe I came off a bit harsh. I used to go an ACES game about every year, have family there and love the atmosphere. There also is this place not far from the gym that sold "brain" sandwiches which were freaking awesome. Does anyone know the name of that place.

[GoPurpleAces]

Kipplee's....It used to be Larry's Stadium Inn.