Derek Simmons - Infielders/Recruiting Coordinator - Baseball Coaches

Derek Simmons

Title:
Infielders/Recruiting Coordinator
Email:
derek.simmons@duke.edu

Head coach Chris Pollard announced the addition of assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Derek Simmons to the Duke baseball staff. Simmons joins the Blue Devils following a five-year stint at Indiana and will coordinate all developmental aspects for the infielders and lead training protocols for baserunning.

While with the Hoosiers, Simmons worked with the hitters, trained and coached the infielders, and was the program's recruiting coordinator for three seasons. The 13-year coaching veteran has thrived on the recruiting front in previous stops, securing a pair of top-25 classes to go along with four other top classes per Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. In 2023 the Hoosiers class was tabbed as the 17th best class in the country, the highest in Indiana program history.

In 2024, Simmons and the Hoosiers appeared in the Knoxville Regional, finishing first in the Big Ten in hits (625), a program record in doubles (140), runs (482), total bases (1,030) and RBI (451). The Hoosiers saw six players drafted in the 2024 MLB Draft, including four in the top-5 rounds, a new program best.

During his time in Bloomington, Simmons helped oversee the development of multiple MLB Draft picks, three Freshman All-Americans in 2022, one freshman All-American hitter in 2023, and a program record 26 Big Ten victories during the 2021 conference-only slate.

Before his time at Indiana, Simmons was an assistant coach at Kent State, where he helped the Golden Flashes land the second-highest recruiting class in program history during the 2018-19 cycle as the program's recruiting coordinator. The 2019 freshman class entered as the No. 25-ranked class in the country by Collegiate Baseball.

Additionally, Simmons was named one of 20 assistant coaches nationwide to Baseball America's Coaches to Watch List in 2018 and 2019 and one of 30 assistant coaches invited to the Surefire Baseball Forum for elite assistants.

Simmons also had stops at Alabama (2017) and Kennesaw State (2013-16) before joining the Golden Flashes in 2018. He began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach at Central Michigan (2011-12), helping the Chippewas claim a 2011 Mid-American Conference West Division title with seven student-athletes on the all-MAC squad.

The Duluth, Georgia, native started his playing career at the University of Montevallo and helped the Falcons to the Division II College World Series in 2006. A two-year letterwinner at UM, he went on to earn two more letters and was named team captain at Georgia State. The first player in Panthers history to earn first-team all-conference honors twice, he finished his career among the top 10 in numerous single-season categories with a career batting average of .344.

In his career, he has coached or recruited 63 all-conference honorees, three conference "Player of the Year" award winners, 10 All-Americans, and five Freshman All-Americans. Simmons has donned the Stars and Stripes for USA Baseball numerous times over the last half-decade, including coaching stints with the 18u National Team, the 14u National Training Development Program, and the 15u National Team.