Kelly Simmons follows Coach Erin Mills-Reid to Mercyhurst after spending the 2024-2025 season as a graduate assistant at The University of Akron, led by Head Coach Ryan Gensler. Her responsibilities included support on-court-coaching, player development workouts, scout team, content creation, recruiting activities, film work, coordinate managers, social media/branding, and general day-to-day operational tasks. At Akron, she was one of twenty one graduate assistants selected to participate in the TopConnect Graduate Leadership Academy (GALA4) with Coach Josh Pastner– a program connecting young collegiate athletic professionals with veteran mentors.
Prior to Akron, Simmons spent the 2022-2024 as the assistant at her alma mater, Trinity University in San Antonio, TX under Head Coach Cameron Hill. Over two seasons, Simmons went 50-8, won the 2023 and 2024 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament Champions, and advanced to the 2023 NCAA DIII Third Round and 2024 NCAA DIII Second Round.
The 2022-2023 season saw Trinity hold the top spot in the d3hoops Top25 national poll for three weeks (the first time since the 2003-2004 season). In 2023-2024, Simmons supported an offense that led DIII in 3FGM per game at 10.1. Outside of Trinity, Simmons remained active, working various summer youth camps and coaching the Rohawks, a 16U Boys Basketball AAU Team.
As a player at Trinity, Simmons appeared in all 98 games achieving an 83-15 record with a 54-5 mark for SCAC play. Her playing career is highlighted by four consecutive regular season SCAC titles, the 2021 and 2022 SCAC Tournament Championships, 2020 and 2022 NCAA DIII Tournaments Appearances (2021 national tournament canceled). In the 2019-2020 season, Simmons was part of a unit that led the DIII in assists to turnover ratio.
A senior captain in 2021-2022, Trinity set a program record 27 consecutive wins, went undefeated in SCAC play (16-0), and reached the NCAA DIII Quarterfinals for the second time in program history. Simmons finished her time at Trinity 12th in career rebounds and ninth in career blocks at Trinity. She received a B.A. in Political Science and History and is a member of the ODK leadership circle.
