Roy D. Simmons Jr. (born August 6, 1935) is a former American

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

coach who was the head coach of the

Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse The Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse team represents Syracuse University in NCAA Division I men's college lacrosse. The Orange have won 15 national championship titles, and currently compete as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference men's lacro ...

team from 1971 to 1998. Simmons' teams won the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) Men's Lacrosse Championship six times (one was later vacated), and appeared in the national semifinals 16 consecutive seasons. He won the

F. Morris Touchstone Award The F. Morris Touchstone Award is an award given by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association to the nation's most outstanding NCAA Division I lacrosse head coach. The award was first presented in 1958. The award is named after F. Mo ...

for the coach of the year in NCAA men's lacrosse in 1980, and was inducted into the

National Lacrosse Hall of Fame The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum, is located in Sparks, Maryland at the USA Lacrosse headquarters. Prior to moving to its present location in 2016, the hall of fame and museum was located in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood campu ...

in 1991.

Early life and playing career

Simmons's father,

Roy Simmons Sr. Roy D. Simmons Sr. (September 27, 1901 – August 20, 1994) was an American lacrosse coach who was the head coach of the Syracuse Orangemen men's lacrosse team from 1931 to 1970. Simmons's teams posted more than 250 wins in his career, and he is ...

, was the coach of Syracuse's men's lacrosse team for 39 seasons; he was a 1964 National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee. According to Simmons Jr., during his early years he was a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

for his father's teams, and was a regular in the team's

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...

. He was also interested in boxing, and Simmons Sr. referred to him as "Slugger".Galpin, Greene, Wilson and Barck, p. 192. Simmons Jr. attended

Kimball Union Academy Kimball Union Academy is a private boarding school located in New Hampshire. Founded in 1813, it is the 22nd oldest boarding school in the United States. The academy's mission is to "create a deep sense of belonging for every member of our commu ...

, playing on the school's lacrosse team for three seasons. Beginning in 1955, Simmons Jr. went to Syracuse University, playing on the lacrosse team coached by his father. In 1957, the Orange posted an undefeated record; Simmons Jr. trailed only

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...

among the team's top scorers, and was named an honorable mention All-American. The Orange finished second in the end-of-season national rankings, behind

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

. He repeated as an honorable mention All-American selection the next season, when he served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

for Syracuse.

Coaching career

In 1958, Simmons graduated from Syracuse with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in sculpture, and the following year he joined his father's staff as coach of the freshman lacrosse team. Twelve years later, he succeeded his father as head coach of the varsity team. Early in his head coaching career, the program faced budget limitations and was unsuccessful, with losing records in three straight seasons. In 1974, it had a 2–9 win–loss record, and Simmons once fielded two goaltenders during a game against

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. Eventually, he received increased support in the form of scholarships and focused his recruiting efforts on central New York-based high school players. In addition, Simmons had numerous players from the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

tribe. Previously, he had relied on local Native Americans and ex-members of the

Syracuse Orange football The Syracuse Orange football team represents Syracuse University in the sport of American football. The Orange compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Division of the ...

team to form the basis of his rosters. Syracuse reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1979. In 1980, the Orange reached the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament before losing to Johns Hopkins, their furthest advancement in the event to that point under the leadership of Simmons. Simmons was named the coach of the year in Division I men's lacrosse, claiming the

. Syracuse earned another NCAA Tournament bid in 1981, but was not selected the following season; this was the last time until 2005 that the Orange did not reach the national semifinals. In 1983, Syracuse posted an 11–1 record in the regular season—losing only to

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

—then defeated

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in the NCAA Tournament to reach the championship game against top-ranked Johns Hopkins. After entering halftime with a four-goal deficit to Johns Hopkins, Simmons Jr. forbid his players from entering the team's locker room, telling them "There is no sanctuary." The Orange trailed 12–5 at one point in the second half, but rallied for a 17–16 victory, claiming the program's first NCAA Tournament title and first national championship since 1925. Entering the 1984 NCAA Tournament, the Orange were unbeaten. They reached the final but lost in a rematch against Johns Hopkins, 13–10. After Syracuse finished the 1985 regular season with a 12–1 record, the teams met in the NCAA Tournament final; Syracuse was again defeated by Johns Hopkins, 11–4. The Orange were eliminated in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament the next two seasons, against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and Cornell, respectively. However, 1987 marked the Syracuse debuts of brothers Gary and

Paul Gait Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

.Galpin, Greene, Wilson and Barck, p. 195. The Gaits, who had resided in Canada, were recruited by Simmons at a time when Canadian lacrosse players typically took part in

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

games.Maiorana and Pitoniak, p. 148. Before the Gaits started playing for Syracuse, Simmons called them "the two greatest lacrosse players I've ever seen in my life"; the pair combined for 118 goals in 1988. In 1988, Simmons led Syracuse to the NCAA Tournament title for a second time. The Orange, playing in Syracuse, defeated Cornell 13–8 in the

championship game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

to finish the season with a perfect 15–0 record. Simmons later recruited

Tom Marechek Tom "Hollywood" Marechek (born August 25, 1968 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a retired professional lacrosse player. College career Marechek played college lacrosse at Syracuse University where he teamed with Paul and Gary Gait to form one of ...

, the university's second-leading goal scorer behind Gary Gait. He received a recommendation about Marechek from the Gaits, and offered him a scholarship without watching any of his games. In 1989, Simmons's team lost to Johns Hopkins in their first game, which was their only defeat of the season. The Orange repeated as NCAA champions, winning the NCAA Tournament final 13–12 over Johns Hopkins. Syracuse returned to the championship game of the NCAA Tournament in 1990, defeating Loyola 21–9 to give Simmons an apparent fourth title, and third in a row. However, in 1995 the NCAA stripped Syracuse of the championship after a report that an automobile loan for Paul Gait was co-signed by Simmons's wife, Nancy.

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

prevented Syracuse from playing in the championship game of the 1991 NCAA Tournament with a 19–13 victory in the semifinals. The Orange reached the national championship game for the seventh time in ten seasons in 1992, but were defeated by

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

, 10–9 in double overtime. Simmons's team made another national championship game appearance the next season, this time winning 13–12 over North Carolina. By 1995, Simmons was thinking of stepping down from the Orange lacrosse program, following personal and family health issues. His team reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the 13th consecutive season, and faced Maryland for the title. With a 13–9 Syracuse victory, Simmons claimed his sixth national championship, counting the vacated 1990 title. Simmons remained the head coach of the Syracuse lacrosse team through 1998, and his 1996–98 teams each won 11 games before being eliminated in the national semifinals. He announced his retirement following an 11–10 defeat against Princeton in the 1998 Final Four. He later indicated that a desire to pursue an art hobby and have more family time was the reason for his decision.Case, p. 23. He was 290–96 in his head coaching career, and had a streak of reaching the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament in 16 consecutive seasons prior to his retirement.

Honors

The

inducted Simmons in 1991 for his playing career. One year earlier, he had been selected to be a member of the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame.

Family

Simmons and his late wife, Nancy, a physical education teacher, had three children. One of his children, Roy III, is the director of operations for Syracuse's men's lacrosse team, and played on Simmons's 1978–1981 teams. His grandson, Ryan Simmons, also played lacrosse for the Orange.

References

Bibliography