UE hiring Walter McCarty was obviously a terrible decision. But that doesn’t mean firing Simmons wasn’t. The program had stagnated badly under Simmons’ leadership.
And what I’d say about the McCarty debacle is that, despite how that turned out (because of Walter’s boundless lechery…which was well-known to those who know him), it at least did demonstrate that a program like UE doesn’t have to settle for being a doormat with a “well, that’s the best we can do” mentality.
That doesn’t mean Marty’s an awful coach. The Aces had their moments while he was there. But they needed to boost their recruiting to compete in the MVC, and that just wasn’t Simmons’ forte.