Paul Simmons (American football)

Last updated
Paul Simmons
Current position
Title Head coach
Team Harding
Conference GAC
Record65–13
Playing career
1991–1994 Harding
Position(s) Linebacker, defensive end
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1998–2005 Harding Academy (TN)
2006–2009 Harding (DL)
2010–2016 Harding (DC)
2017–present Harding
Head coaching record
Overall65–13 (college)
51–38 (high school)
Tournaments8–4 (NCAA D-II playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 NCAA Division II (2023)
2 GAC (2021, 2023)

Paul Simmons is an American college football coach. He is the head football coach for Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, a position he has held since 2017. He has won Great American Conference championships in 2021, 2023, reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs in 2017, and won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2023. [1]

Contents

As a player for Harding, Simmons was a three-time first-team All-American linebacker and defensive end. He was inducted into the Harding Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. Simmons played high school football for the Ashdown High School Panthers in Ashdown, Arkansas from 1988 to 1990.

Simmons joined Harding as an assistant coach in 2006, and became the defensive coordinator in 2010. Before coming to Harding, Simmons was a high school head coach in Memphis.

In 2023, Simmons coached his Harding Bisons to a NCAA Division II national championship, finishing undefeated at 15–0. That team became the first to ever rush for over 6,000 yards in a single season in NCAA history. [2]

Simmons' son, Wyatt, a high 3-star linebacker in the 2024 class at Harding Academy High School in Searcy, has signed to play college football for Arkansas over offers from schools such as Auburn, Clemson, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, USC, and Florida State. [3]

Head coaching record

College

YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffs AFCA#D2°
Harding Bisons (Great American Conference)(2017–present)
2017 Harding11–48–3T–2ndL NCAA Division II Semifinal 6
2018 Harding9–39–22ndL NCAA Division II First Round 20
2019 Harding10–210–12ndL NCAA Division II First Round 15
2020–21 No team—COVID-19
2021 Harding11–210–11stL NCAA Division II Second Round 10
2022 Harding9–29–22nd22
2023 Harding 15–011–01stW NCAA Division II Championship 11
2024 Harding0–00–0
Harding:65–1352–9
Total:65–13
      National championship        Conference title        Conference division title or championship game berth
  • #NCAA Division II AFCA poll.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lone Star Conference</span> American collegiate athletic conference

The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the South Central states, with schools in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arkansas, with two members in the Pacific Northwest states of Oregon and Washington competing as affiliates for football only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandon Moore (linebacker)</span> American football player and coach (born 1979)

Brandon T. Moore is the current head football coach for the University of San Diego Toreros and a former NFL linebacker. He was signed by the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent following the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oklahoma.

Robert Hue Wallace is an American former college football coach and athletics administrator. He served as head football coach at the University of North Alabama at 1988 to 1997 and again from 2012 to 2016, at Temple University from 1998 to 2005, and at the University of West Alabama from 2006 to 2010. Wallace led the North Alabama Lions to three consecutive NCAA Division II Football Championships, from 1993 to 1995. He was also the athletic director at West Alabama from 2018 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flexbone formation</span> American football formation

The flexbone formation is an offensive formation in American football that includes a quarterback, five offensive linemen, three running backs, and varying numbers of tight ends and wide receivers. The flexbone formation is derived from the wishbone formation and features a quarterback under center with a fullback lined up directly behind the quarterback. There are two smaller running backs called slotbacks aligned behind the line of scrimmage on each side of the offensive line. The slotbacks are sometimes incorrectly referred to as wingbacks. But in order to be a wingback, there must be a guard, tackle and tight end all on one side of the center on the line of scrimmage and then the wingback off the line of scrimmage.

Ron Vanderlinden is a retired American college football coach. Vanderlinden was most recently the linebackers coach at Air Force. He served as the head football coach at the University of Maryland, College Park from 1997 to 2000, compiling a record of 15–29.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Chizik</span> American football player and coach (born 1961)

Eugene C. Chizik Jr. is an American football coach who was most recently the defensive coordinator and Assistant Head Coach for Defense at North Carolina. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Chizik previously was UNC's defensive coordinator for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and served as the head coach of the Auburn football team from 2009 until the end of the 2012 season. Chizik's 2010 Auburn Tigers football team completed a 14–0 season with a victory over Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game, and quarterback Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy. Chizik played college football at the University of Florida in 1981 for head coach Charley Pell.

Kurt Keola Gouveia is an American football coach and former linebacker who played 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the XFL. During his career, he played for the Washington Redskins, the Philadelphia Eagles (1995), and the San Diego Chargers (1996–1998). In 2001, he also played for the Las Vegas Outlaws in the now-defunct XFL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas State Red Wolves</span> Athletic teams representing Arkansas State University

The Arkansas State Red Wolves are the athletic teams of Arkansas State University. They are a member of the Sun Belt Conference in all sports except women's bowling, a sport not sponsored by that league, competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level. As of the next NCAA bowling season in 2023–24, the bowling team will compete in Conference USA, which absorbed the single-sport Southland Bowling League after the 2022–23 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkansas State Red Wolves football</span> Football team representing Arkansas State University

The Arkansas State Red Wolves football team represents Arkansas State University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football competition. The team was founded in 1911 and has competed as a member of the Sun Belt Conference since 2001. Their home field is Centennial Bank Stadium and the head coach is Butch Jones.

The Harding Bisons football program represents Harding University in college football as a Division II member of the Great American Conference. Harding is located in Searcy, Arkansas. The Bisons are led by head coach Paul Simmons, a former Harding linebacker, with a record of 65–13. They were NCAA Division II national champions in 2023.

Victor Santa Cruz is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for JSerra Catholic High School, a position he has held since 2023. He was the defensive ends coach at Hawaii in 2021. Prior to that, he was the head football coach at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California from 2006 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Wagner</span>

Will Wagner is an American football coach and former player. He is the special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach for Henderson State University, a position he has held since 2023. He served as the head football coach at the Angelo State University from 2011 until he was fired during the 2018 season. Wagner was hired as the seventh head football coach at Angelo State University on December 23, 2010. Prior to coming to Angelo State, he served as the defensive backs coach and assistant head coach at Northwest Missouri State University.

Ron Roberts is an American football coach. He is the executive head coach, co-defensive coordinator, and linebackers coach, at the University of Florida, a position he has held since 2024. Roberts served as the head football coach at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi from 2007 to 2011 and Southeastern Louisiana University from 2012 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harding Bisons</span> Athletic teams representing Harding University

The Harding Bisons are the athletic teams that represent Harding University, located in Searcy, Arkansas, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Bisons compete as members of the Great American Conference for all 16 varsity sports. Harding began in the Gulf South Conference in 2000 before moving to the newly formed Great American Conference (GAC) in 2011.

Ronnie Huckeba is a retired American football coach. He was the head coach at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas from 2007 to 2016. He compiled a record of 69–40, winning a Great American Conference championship and reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs in his final season.

The 2019 Texas A&M–Commerce Lions football team represented Texas A&M University–Commerce as a member of the Lone Star Conference (LSC) the 2019 NCAA Division II football season. They were first-year head coach David Bailiff. Bailiff replaced Colby Carthel, who left Commerce to become the head football coach at Stephen F. Austin State University. The Lions compiled an overall record an 11–3 with a mark of 7–1 in conference play, placing second in the LSC. Texas A&M–Commerce qualified for the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs for the fifth straight season and the eighth time since joining the NCAA in 1982. They finished as national quarterfinalists for the third time in program history.

Brian Niedermeyer is an American college football coach and former player. He is the defensive coordinator for Tuscaloosa County High School, a position he has held since 2024.

Brandon Hall is an American football coach who is currently the safeties coach at the University of Oklahoma. He was previously the coordinator at Broken Arrow High School in Oklahoma, Central Oklahoma, Jacksonville State, and Troy.

Larry Richmond is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas from 1988 to 1993, compiling a record of 37–25–1. Richmond's 1989 Harding squad won the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference championship.

The 2023 Harding Bisons football team was an American football team that represented Harding University in the Great American Conference (GAC) during the 2023 NCAA Division II football season. In their sixth year under head coach Paul Simmons, the team compiled a perfect 15–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 665 to 156, and won the GAC and NCAA Division II championships. The team also set an NCAA record for most rushing yards in a season with 6,161 rushing yards.

References

  1. "Paul Simmons - Football Coach". Harding University Athletics.
  2. Mobley, Andrew (December 16, 2023). "Harding University wins Division II National Championship, beats Colorado School of Mines 38–7". ABC 7 . Retrieved December 22, 2023.
  3. "Harding HC Paul Simmons, son Wyatt reflect on special Saturday in Searcy". K8 News. December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2023.