Bob Simmons, the coach who led the Oklahoma State Cowboys from the Big 8 Conference to the Big 12 Conference, died on Tuesday.
Former Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons at his introductory press conference. | JIM ARGO/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesSimmons was a Colorado assistant coach under Bill McCartney when he got the job at OSU in 1995, replacing Pat Jones.
CU won a share of the national championship in 1990 under McCartney and Simmons was the outside linebackers coach. He also coached defensive linemen for the Buffs.. OSU went 4-8 with a 2-5 Big 8 record in his first season.
Then, the Cowboys, along with the rest of the Big 8, merged with Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech to form the Big 12. Oklahoma State’s fortunes got a bit better in the two-division Big 12. OSU was 5-6 with a 2-6 league record in 1996. Simmons had his best season in 1997 when he and the Cowboys went 8-4 with a 5-3 record in league action.
For the three-game turnaround, Simmons was named the Big 12 coach of the year. The Cowboys were ranked No. 24 in the final AP Top 25. The success didn't last. He had identical 5-6 and 3-5 league records in 1998 and 1999.
He followed that up with a 3-8 record in 2000, including a 1-7 record in Big 12 action. After that, the Cowboys parted ways with them and elevated Simmons’ offensive coordinator, Les Miles, to head coach. After a year away from coaching, Simmons landed at Notre Dame where he served as the linebackers coach from 2002-04 under Tyrone Willingham.
From there he bounced to Washington for three seasons where he served as the Huskies tight ends and special teams coach, also under Willingham. After a six-year break, he became the head coach at Boulder High School in Boulder, Colo. The Livingston, Ala. , native played his college football at Bowling Green from 1968-70, where he was a linebacker.
He didn't start coaching until 1976 when he became Bowling Green's wide receivers coach under then-head coach Don Nehlen. A season later he was coaching at the Falcons’ arch-rival, Toledo, as their outside linebackers coach from 1977-79. He then went to work for West Virginia from 1980-87 under Nehlen before he joined McCartney's staff at Colorado. Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI.
He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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