Simpson Graduates From Student to Mentor
UC Davis Women's Basketball Coach Surpasses Teachers in Win Column
Sep 18, 2009
The Hillsdale High grad (San Mateo, CA) has guided the UC Davis women's basketball team to 206 victories during his 13 years as a head coach and helped the program make the transition to NCAA Division I status after a wildly successful run at the Division II level.
Power Forward to Power Coach
Simpson, a UC Davis grad, was putting himself through school at the then non-scholarship campus. He was on the men's basketball team, coached by Bob Hamilton.
"I enjoyed being on the team but I wasn't playing much and I needed a job if I wanted to stay in school," said Simpson, the winningest coach in program history. "There was an opening to help coach the women. I talked it over with coach Hamilton, who understood the situation, and I left the team."
Extending his time at Davis under the tutelage of Pam Gill-Fisher, Simpson discovered a passion for coaching. He served as Gill-Fisher's assistant four years, and the Aggies won a pair of Golden State Conference titles. In his final season before graduating with a degree in history, the Aggies went 23-8 and advanced to the AIAW Division III quarterfinals.
"That was a Cinderella season," he said. "They were great kids and it was a wonderful experience. I feel in love with it. It wasn't a bad gig and it stretched out my undergrad education. I still didn't think I would make it a career and I went to Washington for graduate work and happened to catch on as an assistant."
Coaching On the Road
Three years later he couldn't see himself doing anything else. He went on to coach at George Washington, Washington State and spent a year coaching professionally in Germany before coming home to Davis.
He rejoined the Aggie program as the top assistant for the 1991-92 season under Hall of Fame and three-time Division II Coach of the Year Jorja Hoehn.
"I was very fortunate to have had a couple of good female mentors," Simpson said. "Jorja was so organized, so meticulous that I had to tighten up my own game. When I was 20 I thought I knew it all. Now with each passing year I realize there is always something to learn."
Simpson was Hoehn's top assistant for five years, served as head coach on an interim basis for the 1996-97 season (when Hoehn took a leave of absence), returned to his post (this time as assistant head coach) for a year, then took over at the helm for good in 1998-89.
NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament
In 1997, Simpson guided UC Davis to a program-best 29-3 record, a Northern California Athletic Conference championship (at 14-0), and a third-place finish in the school's first-ever trip to an NCAA Division II Elite Eight basketball tournament. Simpson was named NCAC Coach of the Year.
One of his top players, Jennifer Gross, from that season now serves as Simpson's top assistant.
"She's the head coach of the offense," Simpson said. "I defer to her. Some people, when they watch us play, wonder who the head coach is."
(Gross often animatedly leaps off her chair during the course of a game to direct an offensive scheme).
Two years later, in its first year as a member of the CCAA, UC Davis won the conference title, finished 25-4 overall and advanced to their 10th straight regional, including their fifth straight regional final. Simpson was named the CCAA Coach of the Year.
The Aggies completed their 19th consecutive winning season in their final year as a Division II school.
Coach of the Year Hoops it Up
"That was invigorating for me," Simpson said. "I was starting to get burned out but that became more of a challenge. The four-year thing (transitional period) was hard but it was fun to see the improvement and watching players compete for pride only."
Simpson redshirted two seniors for the final year of the reclassification period and went with a team that had no returning starters. The Aggies held their own, finishing 8-8 in the conference.
Davis went 12-4 in the Big West, 19-12 overall in its first official Division I season and reached the first round of the WNIT. Of the fifth-year seniors, Jessica Campbell earned first team all-conference honors. Simpson was Coach of the Year.
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