Kip Simons

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Position: Head Coach | 7th Season Alma Mater: Ohio State (1994)

Olympian and USAG Hall of Fame selection Kip Simons enters his seventh season as the head coach of the Air Force Academy men's gymnastics team. Since taking over the Falcons' program in 2005, Simons has coached one NCAA All-American (two certificates), one Nissen-Emery finalist, six USAG champions (13 titles) and 22 USAG All-Americans (46 certificates), while earning six coaching awards.

"Coaching here is a dream job," Simons said. "There is nothing more rewarding than to see my athletes maximize their potential as gymnasts and then go on to become the best pilots in the nation. After six years, I truly believe when you look at academic, gymnastics and career opportunities, there is not a better option out there than the Air Force Academy."

In just six years at the helm of the Air Force program, Simons has accumulated several coaching accolades. In 2006, he was voted as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year. Following the 2008 season, he was selected as the USAG Coach of the Year and the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year. The 2010 season was a banner year for Simons, who was named the USAG Varsity Head Coach of the Year, the NCAA West Region Coach of the Year and the CGA/Collegiate Division National Coach of the Year.

Under Simons' direction, the 2011 Air Force squad recorded one of the best seasons in program history. The Falcons repeated as the USAG national team champions, won their first All-Academy Championship title since 2000 and made the team's first appearance at the NCAA National Qualifier since 1998. As a team, Air Force broke Academy records on five of six events, while collecting a program-best total score of 347.500. Individually, three gymnasts set or matched Academy-record scores, while a program-best four gymnasts claimed individual USAG titles. Nash Mills, who defended his title on the parallel bars, also claimed first on the still rings, while James Okamoto and Tory Brown won the pommel horse and vault titles, respectively.

Last season was just another example of how the program has improved since Simons took over the coaching reigns.

Air Force claimed its first-ever USAG national team title in 2010, while Mills (parallel bars, all-around) and Devin Menefee (vault) combined for three individual USAG titles and eight members competed at the NCAA Championships. In 2009, Simons guided Jake Schonig to his second straight USAG title on the still rings, as well as a place among the national finalists for the Nissen-Emery award. Six of Simons' gymnasts, including a pair of freshmen, earned spots at the NCAA Championships, while five claimed USAG All-America accolades.

During the 2008 season, he coached Greg Stine to the Academy's first NCAA All-America certificate in 15 years, as Stine claimed top-eight honors at the NCAA Championships in the all-around and on the still rings. As a team, Air Force claimed a third-place finish at the USAG Collegiate Championships, while Stine (all-around, parallel bars) and Schonig (still rings) claimed USAG titles. In 2007, Air Force claimed its first individual USAG title in three years when Stine finished first on the floor exercise, still rings and all-around.

"Here at the Air Force Academy, I apply the same work-ethic that took me to the Olympic Games to mold my cadets into future leaders of character," he said.

Prior to his appointment at the Academy, Simons spent five seasons with the Cal Bears. He was an assistant coach from 2001-05 and then held the title of associate head coach for the final year of his stay in Berkeley.

During his tenure at Cal, the Bears finished within the top-two at the MPSF Championships every year, winning the conference title in 2004. Simons helped guide Cal to a pair of third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships and coached 19 top-10 finishers, including four national champions.

Simons began his collegiate-level coaching career following a stellar career at both the collegiate and national levels. In 1988, Simons dominated the U.S. Junior National Championships and the Junior Pan-American Games, collecting 10 gold medals.

During a successful college career at Ohio State, Simons earned numerous honors throughout his four years, including the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the Nissen-Emery Award, which is given to the nation's top senior gymnast.

A native of Bloomsburg, Pa., he was a four-year member of the All-Big 10 team, while earning four Big 10 Conference titles on the parallel bars (1992, 1994), still rings (1992) and high bar (1993). In addition, Simons picked up two NCAA All-America certificates, as the Buckeyes finished third at the national meet during each of his last three seasons. In September 2006, Simons was inducted into the OSU Athletics Hall of Fame by the Varsity "O" Association.

Following his collegiate career, Simons competed on two world championship teams, as well as the gold-medal winning teams at the 1994 Goodwill Games and the 1995 Pan-American Games. He also represented the United States as a member of the 1996 Olympic team that finished fifth at the Atlanta Games.

"I am able to draw on my 10-year national and international competitive career as the foundation to building my program," Simons continued. "Having the Olympic Training Center in our backyard is a huge asset to this program. Our coaching staff continues to stay up-to-date on the most current training and competitive strategies."

During the summer of 2010, he was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Joining Simons in the 2010 induction class was 1996 Olympic team gold medalist Dominique Moceanu, 1992 Olympic team bronze medalist Wendy Bruce-Martin, 2000 Olympian Jennifer Parilla, two-time U.S. Men's Olympic team head coach Kevin Mazeika and 2000 U.S. Olympic trampoline coach Robert Null.

Simons was married in May 2009 to the former Kim Rich of Columbus, Ohio.