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Paul Simmons
AT HARDING
In 2017, Paul Simmons became Harding's 13th head football coach in program history and the sixth since the university restarted football in 1959.
In Simmons' six seasons ...
He led the Bisons to the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championship, Harding's first national championship in an NCAA sport, with a 38-7 victory over Colorado School of Mines.
He was the 2023 AFCA National Coach of the Year, 2023 Don Hansen Football National Coach of the Year, 2023 D2Football.com National Coach of the Year, 2023 Arkansas-Democrat Gazette Sportsperson of the Year and 2023 Great American Conference Coach of the Year.
He has a 65-13 overall record, becoming Harding's fastest head coach to 50 career wins ... has an .864 winning percentage in conference games and .825 winning percentage on the road ... has won nine or more games every season.
Harding has won the 2021 and 2023 Great American Conference championships and has never finished lower than second.
Harding has finished the season ranked in the AFCA Top 25 every season, topping out at No. 1 in 2023.
Harding has reached the NCAA Division II Playoffs five times, compiling an 8-4 record and winning the 2023 national championship, reaching the national semifinals in 2017 and reaching the Super Region 3 semifinals in 2021 ... no other active coach in the GAC has more than one NCAA II Playoff win.
Harding has had 77 All-GAC honorees and 31 All-America citations.
The Bisons have had 126 Academic All-GAC recipients and eight Academic All-Americans.
Simmons spent the previous 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Harding, joining the staff in 2006. He became Harding’s assistant head coach in 2008 and the defensive coordinator in 2010.
Simmons has coached in 18 Harding postseason games, including the 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023 NCAA Division II Playoffs and the 2013 Live United Texarkana Bowl.
PLAYING CAREER
Simmons was a three-time All-America honoree at Harding University as a linebacker and defensive end. He compiled 415 career tackles (second all-time at HU) and 18.0 sacks (fourth all-time at HU) and was inducted into the Harding Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. Simmons is the only Harding football player ever to earn first team All-America honors three times.
EDUCATION
Simmons earned his bachelor’s degree in social science from Harding University in 1995.
FAMILY
A native of Ashdown, Arkansas, he is married to the former Kimberly Hatcher of Jackson, Tennessee. The couple have three children.