BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green State University announced Wednesday afternoon it has hired Southern Utah’s Todd Simon as its next men’s basketball coach.
Simon replaced Michael Huger, who was fired earlier this month after coaching the Falcons for eight seasons. Huger went 126-125 overall, including 11-20 last season.
Simon, the 18th men’s basketball head coach in BGSU history, compiled a 118-106 record in seven seasons as Southern Utah’s coach. He also went 9-8 as the interim coach at University of Nevada-Las Vegas in the 2015-16 season.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be the next head coach at Bowling Green State University,” Simon said in a news release. “... My family and I look forward to being servant leaders to our student-athletes, to our campus, and to the Bowling Green community.
“We are dedicated to developing our young men in the program both on and off the court, and we are excited to get to Bowling Green to start building relationships. We are going to bring an intense and exciting brand of up-tempo basketball to the Stroh Center and have an expectation to build one of the best home court advantages in the nation.”
A native of Fowler, Michigan — around 160 miles northwest of Bowling Green — Simon turned around a Southern Utah program in a hurry.
Simon led the Thunderbirds to 20-plus wins in each of the past three seasons (65-28 record overall), the first time in more than 40 years the program accomplished the feat. He helped Southern Utah reach back-to-back postseason tournaments the last two years for the first time in program history.
“He is a coach who wants to be here,” BGSU athletic director Derek van der Merwe said in a news release. “He is highly respected by his peers around the country.
“He is a coach who is committed to the student-athlete, the student experience, and truly values the educational process. He embraces the academic mission of the university. He knows how to build a successful program, and he loves to win.”
The Thunderbirds, who will be competing in the College Basketball Invitational that starts later this week, are 22-12 this season, including 12-6 in their first year in the Western Athletic Conference. Southern Utah reached the WAC championship, but fell to Grand Canyon 84-66 Saturday.
Southern Utah is one of the highest-scoring teams in the NCAA. As of Monday, the Thunderbirds ranked fourth in the country in scoring (82.7 points per game), trailing only Gonzaga (87.5), Toledo (85.6), and Oral Roberts (84.2). Southern Utah has scored at least 90 points eight times, including 100 on five occasions.
Simon guided Southern Utah to a 23-12 record, including a 14-6 mark in the Big Sky Conference, in the 2021-22 campaign. The 23 wins were the second most in the program’s Division I history.
The Thunderbirds competed in the inaugural Basketball Classic – formerly the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament – a year ago and won their first three games, including a first-round matchup over Kent State.
During the 2020-21 season, Simon fronted a Southern Utah team (20-4, 12-2) that won its first Big Sky regular season championship. The Thunderbirds’ 84.2 points per game in the regular season were the best in the Big Sky and third in the NCAA.
Under Simon’s tenure, Southern Utah produced six of the program’s top 10 career scorers, as well as the program’s top two career rebounders.
“Todd has a proven track record of success everywhere he has been,” WAC commissioner Brian Thornton said in a news release. “He is a program-builder who has shown the ability to recruit and develop players at all levels.
“I would expect Todd to have an immediate impact on the Bowling Green program from day one.”
Simon, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan in 2003 and a master’s from UNLV in 2010, helped Southern Utah more than double its win total from his first season to his second. The Thunderbirds were 6-27 in the 2016-17 campaign, then followed with a 13-19 mark the next year. Southern Utah had 17 wins each of the next two seasons.
First Published March 15, 2023, 4:52 p.m.
