Kyle Simonds is entering his third season with the Bearkats, and his second in the role of assistant coach after having spent the 2022 season with SHSU as the team's Director of Operations.
Before joining Sam Houston, he served as the pitching coach at UIW in 2021 where his staff finished the season first in the Southland Conference in strikeouts looking (126) and second in total strikeouts (455). The Cardinals also posted the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the SLC (2.38).
Before UIW, Simonds served four seasons on Rob Childress’ staff at Texas A&M. Two seasons came as a graduate assistant while completing his Recreation, Park & Tourism Sciences master’s degree in youth development. The previous two seasons were as the volunteer assistant coach.
While at Texas A&M, Simonds worked with the pitchers and catchers and in 2019 the Aggie pitching staff set a school record with 673 strikeouts, led the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.33), ranked second in strikeouts per nine innings (10.9) and third in ERA (3.21).
Simonds was a two-year Aggie letterwinner in 2015 and 2016. The Grand Island, Neb., native earned Perfect Game/Rawlings All-America Honorable Mention honors as a senior in 2016. That season, Simonds registered an 11-3 record with a 2.61 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in 17 starts. In 2015, he notched a 3-2 record with two saves, a 2.39 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 52.2 innings.
The highlight of that season came when he threw a no-hitter late in the season vs No. 5 Vanderbilt on May 7, mowing down the final 25 Commodores of the game. It was the 12th no-hitter in Aggie history and the first by any pitcher in SEC play since 1994.
Simonds ended his career ranked 11th on the Aggies’ career ERA list with a 2.53 mark. He posted a 14-5 mark with two saves, 112 strikeouts in 152.2 innings of work in his 39 games.
Following his senior season, the Washington Nationals selected Simonds in the 14th round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
He pitched two seasons in the Nationals’ farm system. In his first minor league stint, Simonds was assigned to Class A Auburn Doubledays, registering a 2.51 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in 32.0 innings. In 2017, he posted a 5-0 record with 57 strikeouts in 61.0 inning in his 30 relief appearances for the Single-A Hagerstown Suns before returning to College Station to begin work in graduate school.
Simonds graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Leadership and Development in 2016 from Texas A&M. He is married to his wife, Hannah, and together they have a pair of daughters, Kate and Garner.
