Tim Simons coached football at Clovis High School for twenty-four years, amassing an incredible 220-59-4 record while winning five Central Section championships and eleven league titles. He also was an assistant coach at Fresno State and came out of retirement in 2006 to launch the football program at Clovis Unified School District’s newest high school, Clovis North. Simons comes from a sports-oriented family and a long line of teachers and coaches. His dad, Jud Simons, co-founded Fresno’s youth baseball program in 1951.

At Fresno High School, Simons played baseball as an infielder and football as a running back. “I loved to play, but my dreams were not always about playing. When I got older, I really liked the idea of teaching and coaching. That’s what I wanted to do,” Simons said. After graduating from Fresno High School in 1959, Tim enrolled at Fresno State to pursue his dream. He credits Phil Krueger, one of his teachers at Fresno State and the Bulldogs football coach in 1964 and 1965, inspiring him to pursue coaching football. “He made me a graduate assistant at Fresno State, and that really got me going,” Simons said.

After graduation, Simons landed an assistant coaching job at Clovis High School. He went on to serve as head football coach at Lennox High School in Los Angeles and Roosevelt High School in Fresno. In 1976, he took over the Clovis High Cougars where he remained until Fresno State hired him as receivers coach in 2000. He coached at FSU for seven seasons: “I was fortunate to be a part of some great moments with Pat Hill and the Bulldogs. I loved it and I learned so much.” His legacy, however, was his unmatched record at Clovis High. He and assistants Larry Kellom, Jack Erdman, Cliff Wetsel, Mike Freeman, John Sexton, and Bill Biggs built a powerhouse program that set a standard for Clovis Unified football. Simons was named the California High School Coach of the Year by Cal-Hi Sports in 1984 and was the 1991 Nor-Cal Coach of the Year. The Cougars were nationally ranked in 1991 and 1999. “You know, it wasn’t just about the wins and the losses. It was about the [team] family and what we could do to help these young people. We were all great friends and we still are,” Simons said. “We all stay in pretty good touch with a lot of our players to this day.”