{"id":189446,"date":"2020-08-10T09:59:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T13:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/?p=189446"},"modified":"2021-01-07T16:04:18","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T21:04:18","slug":"alex-simmons-instills-life-lessons-at-gardner-webb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nothingbutnylon.com\/alex-simmons-instills-life-lessons-at-gardner-webb\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Simmons Instills Life Lessons at Gardner-Webb"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Basketball has surrounded Alex Simmons since fifth grade when she first dribbled a ball. Now decades later, three Tennessee high school state championships, two college basketball national championships and roughly 10 years of coaching experience, the Gardner-Webb<\/a> head women\u2019s basketball coach has picked up a few lessons along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps to have someone like Pat Summitt coach you in college, of course. Summitt was one of the most successful and impactful coaches in basketball history, let alone in women\u2019s college basketball, and Simmons spent five years at her service<\/a>. Naturally, Alex Simmons took some Xs and Os information from her coach, like a defensive philosophy based on scouting reports and high basketball IQs. But Summitt was also a coach known for telling players what they needed to hear, whether they wanted it or not, and that rubbed off on Simmons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it comes from an honesty perspective,\u201d Simmons said. \u201cYou don\u2019t simply tell a recruit that they had a good game when really they played terribly. You want your coaches to be honest with you, and you don\u2019t want them to tell you what you want to hear just to make you feel good.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Simmons remembered that as Summitt helped hook her up with her first coaching experience out of college: a grad assistant role at Kansas. From there, Simmons took off, jumping to become an assistant at Middle Tennessee<\/a> after one season in Lawrence, then moving to take the same position at Ole Miss in 2013, where she remained until 2018, accepting the head coaching job<\/a> at Gardner-Webb that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With instruction from Summitt and others who have surrounded her during her career, Simmons is now entering her third campaign as a head coach. As she has progressed, she\u2019s learned more about the different roles a coach must play. It isn\u2019t just about teaching defensive rotations and instilling proper technique in the players \u2013 there\u2019s an entire mind that is up to you to influence positively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex Simmons doubles as not only a Division I head basketball coach, but she\u2019s also a mother and wife, two vital roles that are her responsibility to fulfill. As a coach of young women, she views it as part of her job to prepare them to become wives and mothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just the reality of anatomy really,\u201d Simmons said with a laugh. \u201cI would be remiss if I told them that they can\u2019t do it all, have it all, and still be a good wife, a good mom, a good sister, daughter, and whatever else they want to be. That\u2019s always been my message.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Meet the Bulldogs \ud83d\udc36\ud83c\udfc0\u2764\ufe0f#FamilyMatters<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/EixpFgEO2p<\/a><\/p>— Gardner-Webb Women\u2019s Basketball (@GWU_WBK) July 22, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>