Kevin Simonds Brings New Attitude to Rebels Football

Kevin Simonds doesn't scream. For most people, that doesn't seem all that extraordinary. For a high school football coach, it seems almost blasphemous.

"That's just the kind of person I am, I'm not a screamer, or a yeller," Simonds, the new head football coach at Fairfax High School, said. "If you ask any of those players they'll say, 'If Coach Simonds is yelling, something's wrong.'"

Simonds prefers to talk to his players calmly, explaining to them what they did wrong instead of berating them for making a mistake. In fact, he even hands down rules to his coaches outlining when it's appropriate to scream at a player.

"I tell my coaches not to yell at a player unless you've taught [something] to them and they've shown you they know how to do it," Simonds said.

Simonds, the son of a Navy father and Marine Corps mother, moved around a lot as a kid, including stops in Japan, Scotland, England and Switzerland, before the family settled in Northern Virginia. He played football and baseball at West Springfield High School before moving on to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, where he played wide receiver, safety and linebacker.

In addition to his personality, Simonds' coaches at West Springfield, Frank Creneti and Gerry Pannoni, influenced his philosophy as a head coach.

"I grew up with the old school-style of football with Coach Creneti and Coach Pannoni," Simonds said. "It was always that you get the job done for your teammates not because you want the stats or the numbers, but because it's a team game."

Simonds brought that mentality with him this offseason with his "Iron Sharpens Iron" weightlifting program. He wanted his players to get better and stronger with one another, so he set a goal for everyone to attend 85 percent of the team's offseason workouts. About 40 of his players hit the goal.

"Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another by holding each other accountable," Simonds said. "One of the biggest things I promoted to [the players] was, 'If this team is going to be successful and get through some of those times, it's because you know your buddy was in the weight room with you working out, running and you push each other.'"

When the head coaching job at Fairfax opened up in 2007, Simonds, then an assistant, applied. He was eventually passed over for Chris Haddock, who left after last season for Centreville High School. Simonds remained as an assistant on Haddock's staff and took on a head coaching position with the baseball team.

Simonds learned the intricacies of running a program and delegating responsibilities while coaching the Rebels' baseball team. It helped him understand the basics of running a program, regardless of the sport.

"Baseball and football are at two opposite ends of the spectrum," Simonds said. Baseball focused me on the administrative side. In baseball, I'm running 30 or 35 kids. With football, I'm at a program where we're close to 200. The communication is such a big production in football."

Football is on a grander scale in terms of recognition, as well. While he was disappointed at the time, Simonds now says getting passed over for the football job three years ago was one of the best things that ever happened to him.

"I wasn't ready," Simonds said matter-of-factly. "I thought I was, but in all honesty if I had gotten the job back then, I would've done the best I could but would I have been able to lead the team like I can now? I don't know."

"Football has a much higher profile in the school than any other sport. It wasn't until I went through three years of baseball that I was ready for that."

When it comes to his players, Simonds tries to build the person first, the student second and the athlete third. That's where his calm demeanor comes from, and that's why he wants his guys to just relax and have fun while they're playing the game.

Fairfax High School celebrates its 75th anniversary this season. To commemorate the event, football alumni will return on Homecoming to watch the game and meet their successors. It's an experience Simonds is excited for his players to have.

"What's going to be interesting to me is watching some of these former players coming into this building and talking with our players and to see how our kids can grasp the fact that these guys played here so long ago and they did so well or struggled like we did, but they still remember how much fun they had.

"If you can understand how much fun it is to play this game, good things can happen for you."

So good, in fact, that even Kevin Simonds might have no choice but to scream.