When it comes to football, there isn’t much Kendall Simmons hasn’t seen. 

Throughout his 45 years, MTSU’s second year offensive line coach has felt the many highs and lows of a football life.  

As a graduate of Ripley High School in Ripley, Mississippi, Simmons attended Auburn University and started every game but his first as a Tiger.  

As a first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Simmons fought for and earned his starting right guard spot in his rookie season.  

As a fourth-year starter, Simmons played in all 20 games en route to Pittsburgh’s 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL.  

As a Super Bowl champion, Simmons went to the stands to meet his wife and oldest daughter to celebrate.  

“The ultimate thing was getting her out of the stands and watching my little girl run around with confetti in her hair and rolling around on the ground,” Simmons said. “It’s still hard to explain it because I can tell you right now, that game went by in a blur.” 

But life in the NFL is brutal, and Simmons didn’t get to enjoy the highs without feeling the many lows that come with it. 

Following his rookie season, Simmons underwent collarbone and elbow surgeries to repair injuries he had sustained over the course of the year, and more impactfully, he learned that he had Type 1 diabetes. Simmons’ body just attacked itself, he said of the condition. 

For many, such a diagnosis in a young career could prove detrimental. But with the support system of the Steelers, and specifically the now-deceased team owner Dan Rooney, Simmons pushed through it, he said.  

“I was in the right place,” Simmons said of Pittsburgh. “God dropped me in the right situation. I don’t know if I would have made it if I would have been with a different organization.” 

Less than a year after his diabetes diagnosis, Simmons hit another hurdle. The then third-year guard tore his ACL in training camp and missed the entirety of the 2004 season. In his absence, the Steelers finished 15-1 and lost in the AFC Championship to the New England Patriots.  

After the Super Bowl triumph of 2005, Simmons once again fell victim to the injury bug in 2008. Simmons tore his Achilles tendon during a Monday Night Football game against the Baltimore Ravens, in what ultimately signaled the end of his career, he said.  

The Achilles tear forced the now veteran Simmons to earn his second championship ring from the sidelines.  

“Being really the older guy in the [offensive line] room, I felt like I was leading the room at the time, but then I almost felt like I let them down, and we had a good group,” Simmons said. “It was really hard to watch them.” 

During that time, Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Smith and Simmons’ wife guided him through those struggles. They helped him understand that he could be a leader, even if he wasn’t on the field, Simmons said.  

The Steelers finished the regular season 12-4 and went on to defeat the Arizona Cardinals, 27-23 in Super Bowl XLIII.  

Shortly afterward, the Steelers released Simmons who signed with New England and later the Buffalo Bills. Never fully recovering from his torn Achilles, Simmons officially hung up his cleats in 2011. 

“That was one of those injuries that I still think about today,” Simmons said of his Achilles tear. “If I could have done it better, I would’ve probably rehabbed differently and done some things different. Maybe that would’ve helped, but it is what it is.” 

After Simmons’ retirement, Auburn offensive line coach Jeff Grimes provided him with the opportunity to be a volunteer coach at his alma mater for the 2010 season.  

Lo and behold, the Tigers finished with a perfect 14-0 record and as Bowl Championship Series National Champions. That season with Grimes was an important learning experience for Simmons’ eventual coaching career, he said. 

“I still kind of use some of the stuff that he did with that team, just being more of mentor than a straight football coach,” Simmons said. “Trying to teach the young men life. Inviting them into your family, talking about your family, different things like that. And that showed me a family man, a God-fearing man, how to do things. I really love that about him [Grimes].” 

Of all the things Simmons learned during that 2010 season, what stuck most was that he wasn’t quite ready to coach. Instead, he took a gig as an ambassador for pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. The company works to discover, develop and deliver more suitable treatments, such as insulin, for diabetes. 

After several years as an ambassador, Simmons got into coaching full-time in 2019 as an offensive analyst at Auburn. During his final season in Auburn, Simmons arrived at a crossroads.  

“I was at the stage of my career where like, am I going to keep doing this, because it seems like it’s not happening or am I going to find another job and do something different,” Simmons said. “And I was really close to just thinking I need to try something else.”   

When the opportunity to coach at Middle Tennessee State University came up though, he didn’t linger on the decision. His admiration for head coach Derek Mason ultimately made the choice easy. 

One thing the pair agrees on is how to coach their players. An eight-year NFL veteran, Simmons knows and has seen what it takes to make it in the league, so he’s not afraid to be honest with his group. 

“Yes, I played in the NFL and all of these different things but the life experience that I got from that to me is more valuable than just that NFL logo,” Simmons said. “Those are the kind of things that I try to give to the young men and get them to understand, because less than a percent of [them] are going to get that opportunity. And even a smaller percentage is going to stick.”  

Now amidst his second offseason at MTSU, Simmons’ career accomplishments aren’t lost amongst his players, even if he doesn’t flaunt them.  

“You know he’s been there and done that,” offensive lineman Ellis Adams said. “You know that what we’re doing now, he’s already been through time and time again. At the highest level, at our level, you know what I mean. I think that’s very important to keep things in perspective from player to coach.”   

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