Former Hoosier Marty Simmons Hired as Eastern Illinois' Basketball Coach

Marty Simmons, who played two years at Indiana from 1983 to 1985 and coached at Evansville for 11 years, has been hired to be the new coach at Eastern Illinois.

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Former Indiana basketball player Marty Simmons has been hired as the new basketball coach at Eastern Illinois University, the school announced Wednesday. 

Simmons, who played two years at Indiana from 1983 to 1985 before transferring to Evansville for his final two years, comes to Eastern Illinois after spending four years at Clemson as a  special assistant to coach Brad Brownell.

This will be Simmons’ fourth head coaching job. He has coached at Evansville, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Wartburg College in Iowa. 

The @EIU_Panthers Athletic Department has hired Marty Simmons as the Panthers @eiubasketball coach.

Simmons becomes fourth HC in EIU's Division I history and 15th head coach overall.

Press conference set for Thursday with Facebook Live Stream at 1 pm https://t.co/iN3bm18amm pic.twitter.com/AKE8R1PXpo

— Eastern Illinois Athletics (@EIU_Panthers) March 31, 2021

At Evansville, Simmons went 184-175 in 11 seasons, leading the program to the postseason on five occasions, including a 2015 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) title. 

He won 20 or more games three times, including 25 wins during the 2015-16 season when Evansville finished tied for second in the Missouri Valley Conference. At SIUE, he won 88 games in five seasons twice guiding SIUE to the NCAA Division II Tournament. He coached one season at Wartburg.

Simmons will be introduced on Thursday in Charleston, and his press conference will be streamed on Facebook Live at 2 p.m. ET.

Simmons is from Lawrenceville, Ill., where as a prep player he helped lead his team to two straight Illinois State Basketball Championships and was named one of the 100 Legends of IHSA Basketball in 2006. 

He was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1983.