Coach Simonds has spent virtually his entire life involved with basketball. After playing at Waldoboro High School and Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Maine, he attended USM where he earned 9 letters as well as MVP awards in both basketball and baseball.
After a sting in the Army with the Maine National Guard, he began his coaching career at Bristol Consolidated School and from there he went to Ellsworth High School where he compiled an 80-30 record in his five years there and led the Eagles to four tournament appearances and twice reached the Eastern Maine finals.
Simonds is best known for his outstanding career at St. Joseph College for 23 years where he compiled a 466-176 (.726 ) record with 11 conference titles and 6 national tournament appearances. Simonds never suffered a losing season and ranks as the most successful head coach in Saint Joseph’s College Athletics history.
Simonds’ crowning achievement came in 1987 when the Monks astounded the basketball world at the NAIA National Championship in Kansas City by upsetting Biola College, which was ranked third in the country with a 29-1 record at the time. The national tourney win was the first of its kind for an NAIA New England program.