The 2009 football season will mark Simmons' fourth year as a member of the current Winston-Salem State University football coaching staff, a staff which has remained nearly entirely intact for the duration of the Rams' transition to NCAA Division I classification. No stranger to the Rams' football program, Simmons has served as a member of the WSSU coaching staff two times prior to his current coaching tenure under head football coach Kermit Blount.

Simmons was a member of the coaching staff in 1976-77 as a student assistant, and then resumed a full-time coaching career for the Rams in 1989 under then-head-coach Pete Richardson.

Simmons will focus primarily upon the Rams' defensive line where he will again inherit a talented defensive front with several big, strong athletes who have the very real possibility of earning postseason honors.

In addition to his on-field coaching responsibilities, he will serve as the Rams' community service liason and will continue to direct WSSU football's efforts in the community.

Simmons led WSSU football student-athletes and football coaching staff members in 2008-09 as they donated over 200 hours to the community as WSSU football student-athletes and coaches gave back to the area by reaching thousands of local children through participation in various outreach programs and their association with the CHAMPS/Life Skills initiative.

Simmons comes to WSSU by way of Allen University (Miami, Fla.) where he served as the head football coach for four seasons.

Prior to his duties at Allen University, Simmons served as the Defensive Coordinator at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. for four seasons (1999-2002). He was instrumental in the improvement of Morehouse's program from a last place finish in 1998 to a runner-up finish in 2000. Before his four seasons at Morehouse, Simmons was a member of the coaching staff at North Carolina A&T State University (1998-99).

In the last 15 years, he has been a member of the coaching staff at Johnson C. Smith University (1995-1998), Southern University (1993-95) and Northwestern State University (1990-93) as he has a total of 28 seasons of collegiate coaching experience.

A member of the United States Army Special Forces for three years (1973-76), Simmons will help to reinforce the discipline associated with the WSSU football program. A two-year starter as a defensive back at Livingstone College in 1971 and 1972, Simmons was an All-CIAA first-team selection in 1972 for the Blue Bears. Following his playing career and three years in the United States Army, Simmons returned to Winston-Salem, N.C. where he completed his degree requirements for a B.S. in English.

Simmons then earned a M.A. in Student Personnel Services from Northwestern State University in 1994.

He and his wife of 23 years Pamela, a PhD in English and a native of Albany, Ga., reside in Winston-Salem, N.C. She is currently employed as an Assistant Professor of English at WSSU.