SM North's Simmons resigns

Don Simmons

This past Friday, Don Simmons tendered his resignation as the head football coach at SM North. Simmons is leaving the program to take the head coaching job at Greene County Tech High School, located in Paragould, Ark.

The move comes as a surprise to most in the Sunflower League. Simmons spent just one season with SM North, going 0-9.

However, with 15 returning starters, including up-and-coming sophomore quarterback Will Schneider, it looked like Simmons was primed to bring the program out of the league's basement, and back into relevancy.

According to sources, SM North has given assistant coach Ben Bartlett the interim head coach title. There has been no indication whether the program intends to hire a new head coach prior to the start of the season, or let Bartlett coach the team through the fall and evaluate next winter.

Simmons was SM North's fourth head coach in the past 10 years. The program enjoyed success in the early 2000s under Sam Brown, but hasn't fielded a winning record since Brown's departure following the 2004 season.

In the nine seasons since Brown left, the program has gone 13-69. SM North currently holds a 19-game losing streak, the longest of its kind by any Sunflower League program on record.