The Pacer

Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Sports Extra

Media Credit: Matt Cook Coach Simpson talks to one of his players at the Homecoming game Saturday Oct. 4 against Tennessee State

UTM head football coach Jason Simpson may have only worked as a head coach for a few seasons, but he leads the Skyhawks football team with a discipline that other coaches lack.

Simpson, in an interview with The Pacer last week, discussed a number of topics including why he accepted his job at UT Martin, his role on campus and in the community and his vision for the team.

Simpson was quick to admit that he wasn't the most talented football player in high school and college, but his drive to coach came from the competitive nature of football.

"I didn't have that type of ability to play in the NFL or anything," Simpson said. "Actually, I played two sports in college - football and baseball - and I was probably a better baseball player than football, but I definitely enjoyed the pageantry of college football."

Simpson, formerly an assistant coach at Delta State, Jacksonville State, Texas State, and UT Chattanooga, said he came to UTM because of the opportunity to be a head coach.

"I had been an assistant coach for eight or nine years, and so this was an opportunity to be a Division I coach," Simpson said.

"There are only 117 head coaches at this level in the country. So I was given this opportunity to stay here in the Southeast, and it was an opportunity of a lifetime."

Simpson said that coaching in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is interesting because of the location of the other schools.

"The neat thing about the OVC is the proximity of the schools. There are four in Tennessee, and then SEMO and Murray within an hour or two. It's a very competitive league, so that it's not the same teams winning every year," Simpson said.

Outside observers might think that Simpson "eat, drinks and sleeps" football, but he is also a husband, father and Sunday School teacher at a local church.

"I think that God gives us all the privilege and opportunity to be influencers," Simpson said. "And everyone of us - no matter what our occupation is - has that ability, whether you have influence over your brother, sister, or children. God gives me the blessing to have an opportunity to follow my dream, and then my obligation is to give back. So not only do I get to talk about my faith [on a regular basis], but I get to do it with college students in the town where I work."

Continued...

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