Women's basketball assistant coach Mark Simons has done everything he can for more than 30 years to coach the game he loves.
Simons, 60, played basketball at Aquinas College, graduating from the university in 1972.
"It was more or less, 'What else am I going to do?'" Simons said. "I graduated and went to Michigan State and actually got a master's degree in aquatic biology, and I missed the game badly."
Simons said he took a job without pay at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan with the men's basketball team just so he could coach.
"The next year I made $500," Simons said. "Eventually, I think I made $1,000. And then I got a part-time job at the university. I did everything I could just to be in coaching."
Simons remained at Saginaw Valley until 1986, when he was hired as the men's coach at St. Andrews College in North Carolina.
In 1988, Simons was named the South Region and Dixie Conference Coach of the Year and the Carolinas Conference Coach of the Year in 1990. He also achieved a 100 percent graduation rate through those years.
Simons took the men's coaching job at Elon University in 1993 after a three-year tenure at Georgia College and State University.
He led Elon to a South Atlantic Conference Championship and their first postseason appearance since 1972. Despite Simons' success at Elon, his coaching career took a turn in 2006.
"Circumstances came and Nell (Fortner) asked me if I wanted to come and work with them," Simons said. "I decided to try it, and I had a blast. I loved working with those kids. I had such a great time."
Simons was hired as an assistant coach, focusing on working with post players and scheduling.
After he finished the remainder of the 2005-06 season with the Tigers, Simons was hired at Georgia Tech as an assistant coach.
Simons said the biggest transition in becoming an assistant coach was not making all of the decisions.
"Being an assistant coach, it's more of you're making suggestions," Simons said. "You just try to give the head coach as much information as possible."
Georgia Tech won 43 games in his two seasons, which marked the first time in school history the Yellow Jackets made the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons and won a NCAA Tournament game.
However, in 2008, Simons returned to Auburn.
"Coach Fortner is all about loyalty and feeling comfortable with who is in the offices every day," said Kerry Cremeans, associate coach. "Mark is just solid. You're not going to get anybody better than Mark as a person. It's important that you're around people that you trust every day, and Mark brings that."
Simons has remained on Auburn's bench for three years now.
"I'm very, very happy," Simons said. "I love it here. I love Auburn. I loved Tech because Tech was a great situation. I wouldn't have left Tech if it wasn't for Nell."
Simons' peers and team seem equally happy.
"He's a great teacher of the game," Cremeans said. "Not only on the court, but off the court as well."
As Auburn continues conditioning, Simons isn't afraid to admit he wants to be a head coach again.
"That's for public knowledge," Simons said. "I'd like to be a head coach again. If not, I'm going to coach until they probably peel me off the sideline someday."
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