Hoops and History

With two NCAA Division I programs, Evansvilleโ€™s basketball future looks as bright as its past

Editor’s note: Read more about Evansville as a sports town in the full feature story.

Basketball simply is played at another level in hoops-mad Indiana, including in Evansville.
The University of Evansville menโ€™s basketball program has won five NCAA Division II national championships and made five trips to the Division I tournament. The University of Southern Indiana, now in its second season in DI, captured the DII menโ€™s title in 1995.

If youโ€™re a history buff, consider that Evansville may have hosted Indianaโ€™s first basketball game.

The Evansville and Terre Haute YMCA menโ€™s teams met on Jan. 27, 1894, at the Evansville Y. An article written by S. Chandler Lighty titled โ€œJames Naismith Didnโ€™t Sleep Here: A Re-Examination of Indianaโ€™s Basketball Origins,โ€ published by the Indiana Magazine of History, found that โ€œEvansville seems to have been the site of the earliest competitive (non-exhibition) basketball game in the state.โ€

Now, that basketball legacy is rebuilding under two familiar names. Former USI player and current UE coach David Ragland played for the Eagles from 2001-03 for head coach Rick Herdes, the first season in which current USI head coach Stan Gouard was Herdesโ€™ assistant.

โ€œWe have a unique relationship,โ€ Gouard says of Ragland. โ€œIโ€™m pulling for him and heโ€™s pulling for me.โ€

Photo of David Ragland by Zach Straw

Ragland transferred to USI after playing his first two seasons for Missouri Southern State University in Joplin.

After battling pancreatic cancer for 15 years, Raglandโ€™s father, Darrell, died in 2017, at age 61. Gouardโ€™s father also died of cancer, in 2006. Ten years later, Gouard was there, helping Ragland through the same painful process.

Ragland marvels that Gouard earned the nickname โ€œSupermanโ€ during his playing days without a hint of irony. Owing a debt of gratitude to then-USI head coach Bruce Pearl, Gouard is an accomplished coach in his own right. He guided the University of Indianapolis to eight NCAA DII tournament berths before joining USI in 2020.

As for Ragland, he is starting to turn UEโ€™s program around in his second season as head coach. The Aces eclipsed 2022-23โ€™s win total โ€” admittedly, a meager five โ€” by the end of November. Last season had marked the Acesโ€™ fourth last-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference in the past six years. Heading into Christmas 2023, UE had the MVCโ€™s third-best overall season win record.

Ragland was a senior at William Henry Harrison High School in 1999 when UE made its last NCAA tournament appearance. That same season, he led Harrison to the Class 4A semi-state tournament at Indianapolisโ€™ Hinkle Fieldhouse.

โ€œReturning to town, the city of Evansville, to coach at the University of Evansville, itโ€™s come full circle,โ€ says Ragland, 42.

His mother, Karen, was a major player in USIโ€™s Varsity Club, so he knows what it takes to win on the floor and succeed behind the scenes. Ragland carried his basketball acumen over to a series of DI assistant coaching jobs, also serving as head coach at Vincennes Universityโ€™s junior col- lege program and now at UE.

Photo of Stan Gouard by Zach Straw

Gouard, who lifted the Eagles to the 1995 DII championship and was named the two- time DII National Player of the Year, posted a 16-17 record in USIโ€™s first season of DI. The Eagles finished seventh in the Ohio Valley Conference; the OVC tournament at the Ford Center takes the top eight teams in the league.

Gouard, 53, notes that the second year in DI often proves difficult. Aside from lead- ing mighty Duke University at halftime of Thanksgiving weekendโ€™s Blue Devil Chal- lenge before reality set in, the Eagles struggled early this season. They must survive a four-year waiting period before becoming eligible for the NCAA tournament.

Lightly recruited Isaiah Swope, a Castle High School graduate, flourished as a freshman at USI. But the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money available at Indiana State University helped lure Swope to the Sycamores, where he already is among the Missouri Valley Conferenceโ€™s best players as a junior. (Read more about Swope and other athletes to watch.)

On the court, Ragland says UE was in a โ€œdark placeโ€ when he arrived. โ€œWe had an individual mindset we had to overcome. We are building the program, brick by brick. We are changing the culture, from the strength and conditioning program (on up).โ€

As for Gouard, he continually praises Pearl, his old college coach, now in his ninth season at Auburn University.

โ€œWe talk on a weekly basis,โ€ Gouard says. โ€œHeโ€™s part of my life. I wouldnโ€™t be a coach without Bruce Pearl. He coaches hard and loves harder. Heโ€™s a great playersโ€™ coach. Heโ€™s a winner everywhere heโ€™s been. Heโ€™s a great friend, a father figure, and a mentor.โ€

East Side, West Side Rivalry Intact

Just like the East and West sides of Evansville, UE โ€” a small, private school โ€” and USI โ€” a still-relatively young public university โ€” are distinctly different. That said, Gouard mentions that Eaglesโ€™ and Acesโ€™ scouts occasionally are recruiting some of the same players.

The universities also have some of the same donors and sponsors, such as Old National Bank. But UE officials were reluctant to single out their largest donors and sponsors.

Photo of former Screaming Eagles head men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl and Athletic Director Jon Mark Hall provided by the University of Southern Indiana

โ€œMultiple businesses and organizations support both programs,โ€ USI athletics director Jon Mark Hall says. โ€œAs far as alumni and friends go, we have had gifts from Tri-State Orthopaedics, Heritage Federal Credit Union, and Ron and Connie Romain for naming opportunities this year. Those mentioned, plus Old National Bank, Heritage Petroleum, and Banterra Bank, continue to be major sponsors for USI Athletics in 2023-24. The USI Varsity Club and private gifts are critical to the transition to Division I for USI Athletics.โ€

USI has eight menโ€™s and nine womenโ€™s sports; its budget in DI was $6.5 million per year. Hall says itโ€™s currently in the $8-$9 million range and hopes to increase it to $12 million by the end of the four-year transition period. Part of the cost has been absorbed by students. Their annual athletics fee went from $60 to $120.

NCAA Division I requires non-football schools to sponsor at least 14 sports, notes UE athletics director Kenneth โ€œZiggyโ€ Siegfried. UE has seven menโ€™s and eight womenโ€™s sports.

At the Division I non-football level, budgets can range from around $5 million to $50 million-plus. At the Football Bowl Subdivision level, the budgets also vary, but the amounts range from about $18 million to $215 million. UEโ€™s athletics budget is around $13 million, Siegfried says.

UEโ€™s 2022-23 average home attendance of 4,548 ranked fourth in the MVC despite the Acesโ€™ 5-27 season, speaking volumes about its fan base. USIโ€™s average home attendance, 2,372, was third in the OVC.

Photo of Purple Aces Athletic Director Kennth “Ziggy” Siegfried provided by the University of Evansville

Siegfried, who joined UE from California State University Bakersfield in 2022, says the community is excited to have two DI programs, and โ€œit will continue to be a pride point in a city filled with a lot of great sports history.โ€

โ€œEvansville is special for many reasons, but one thing I have learned is 95 percent of the people in our city want both teams to succeed. When we play each other, there is no doubt that people in the community have that competitive spirit,โ€ he says. โ€œBut at the same time, I believe there is the desire of many to dream of both teams one day reaching the highest level of success at the DI level.โ€

Like Ragland, Siegfried doesnโ€™t think there is a lot of crossover in recruiting. โ€œI am not saying it never happens, but right now it is not very common for us to be going against USI for a student-athlete,โ€ Siegfried says. โ€œI also want to make it clear that I am not naiฬˆve to the fact that two Di- vision I programs are in the same city, and there will be times where we are going up against one another for top talent.โ€

As for NIL, Siegfried says it will continue to play a significant role in collegiate athletics.

โ€œI feel we are in a good spot with the changing landscape, but we have to continue to evolve,โ€ he says.

UE and USI have met five times, all in exhibitions. Because USI is now Division I, fans are clamoring for regular season matchups.

โ€œBoth of us want to play each other,โ€ Siegfried says. โ€œWe are having ongoing discussions as to exactly how that future partnership may look like.โ€

โ€œWe should play โ€” sooner rather than later,โ€ Gouard says.

How Have They Fared?

The teams have met in five exhibition games through the years:
โ€ข 2004: UE 88, USI 75
โ€ข 2006: UE 77, USI 75
โ€ข 2008: UE 71, USI 67, 2OT
โ€ข 2012: UE 73, USI 55
โ€ข 2019: UE 71, USI 68, OT

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Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen is the managing editor of Evansville Living and Evansville Business magazines.

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