Jaaron Simmons waited for a 

phone call — one that would dic-

tate the future of both his bur-

geoning family and coaching 

career. 

It was mid-April 2020 and 

video analyst David Metzen-

dorf had left the Michigan men’s 

basketball team for an assistant 

coaching position at the Air Force 

Academy. Simmons, at the end of 

his year-long stint working along-

side Metzendorf as a graduate 

assistant on the Wolverines’ staff, 

wanted the job and knew he could 

step in right away. He just had to 

convince Michigan coach Juwan 

Howard of the same.

“‘Hey Coach, I know how to do 

everything,’ in a nutshell that’s 

what I was saying,” Simmons told 

The Daily. “‘I can continue where 

Dave left off. We won’t miss a 

beat. I promise you,’ that’s what I 

was telling him, ‘I promise you we 

won’t miss a beat.’ ” 

Just days earlier, Simmons had 

been offered the video analyst 

role at the University of Illinois at 

Chicago, where former Michigan 

assistant, Luke Yaklich, had been 

named the head coach. While 

grateful for the opportunity, Sim-

mons wanted to stay in Ann Arbor. 

His girlfriend was pregnant with 

their first child and moving across 

state lines wasn’t an ideal scenar-

io. 

Sure enough, 24 hours after 

their initial conversation, Howard 

called him back.

“He’s like, ‘You good. You can 

stay stationary. You don’t have to 

move the family. I want to offer 

you the position to be our video 

coordinator,’ ” Simmons said. 

“You know, I accepted it and I’m 

still here.”

Added Michigan assistant Saddi 

Washington: “To Jaaron’s credit, 

he did a great job of learning the 

video and adding tools to his tool-

belt so when these opportunities 

came, he could advocate for him-

self to slide into those roles.” 

Jean Dolores Schmidt was hav-

ing a blast. 

The 98-year-old nun, better 

known as Loyola Chicago super-

fan Sister Jean, looked on as her 

11-seed Ramblers were on the 

brink of yet another upset — this 

time in the 2018 Final Four. 

With just 11:46 remaining in the 

game, Loyola Chicago took a nine-

point lead over 3-seed Michigan. 

The Wolverines needed a spark 

and Jaaron Simmons obliged. 

The backup point guard hit just 

his sixth 3-pointer of the season to 

ignite a 17-4 run over the next six 

minutes and vault Michigan into 

the 2018 National Championship 

game, where it would eventually 

lose to Villanova. For Simmons, 

though, who had joined the Wol-

verines as a graduate transfer 

from Ohio University prior to the 

season, the run was a dream come 

true. 

“I had never played in the 

NCAA Tournament to that point,” 

Simmons said. “So from game 

one, with (Zavier Simpson) get-

ting in foul trouble against Mon-

tana, I think, and me getting into 

the game, that was memorable. 

Just stepping on the floor for the 

first time. Then you fast forward 

to being out in Los Angeles and 

playing Texas A&M. We’re far 

from Michigan and there’s a lot of 

Michigan fans you know, we filled 

that arena. That was eye-opening 

for me and that was the reason 

that I came to Michigan, because 

of that Block ‘M,’ because of the 

alumni and the fans that travel. 

“… I can’t pick one moment but 

it was all just a great experience.” 

Team success aside, that season 

was hardly all sunshine and rain-

bows for Simmons. 

During his two years with the 

Bobcats — he sat out the 2014-2015 

season after transferring from the 

University of Houston after his 

freshman season — the Dayton, 

Ohio native averaged 15.7 points, 

7.2 assists and earned first-team 

All-MAC honors as a senior. Upon 

joining the Wolverines though, he 

played a measly eight minutes per 

game off the bench as a graduate 

transfer. 

“It was extremely difficult,” 

Simmons said. “Throughout my 

career, pretty much my whole life, 

I’d been a starter, one of the main 

guys on the team. A leader on the 

team. So to become a role player in 

my last year, it was difficult.”

Grounded by his desire to win 

and earn a master’s degree from 

Michigan, though, Simmons never 

checked out on the team — some-

thing that both his teammates and 

coaches took note of. 

“I always tell people this, from 

the first day, that kid’s humbleness 

and competitive nature was a big 

reason why we were able to make 

it to Monday night,” Washington 

said. “Because there are programs 

where guys are in that situation 

and they become problematic in 

the locker room, become a distrac-

tion or become a cancer. Jaaron 

was just the opposite. He’s always 

been a giver.”

Added Simmons’s mother, Sar-

ita Simmons: “I think it built a lot 

of character in him as far as ‘You 

can’t have everything your way. … 

You can play basketball but you’re 

there to get your education.’ He 

was like ‘Okay, I’ll keep going.’ He 

was not a quitter, so he was not 

going to quit.” 

Faced with the disappoint-

ment of a reduced role, Simmons 

learned how much he loved the 

game of basketball that season. 

Devoid of the notoriety and acco-

lades he had achieved previously, 

he still had to show up every day, 

work as hard as any of the starters, 

cheer them on from the sidelines 

and, most importantly, perform 

when his name was called. 

On a team with 10 underclass-

men, the 22-year-old Simmons 

counseled his teammates as only 

an experienced college player 

could. 

“Jaaron helped me,” Isaiah Liv-

ers, a freshman at the time, said. 

“You hear about freshmen strug-

gling during their first year on 

campus, being away from home, 

not understanding college bas-

ketball or the new system. Jaaron 

was like that big brother for me. 

He was a guy who took me under 

his wing. If me, (Eli Brooks) and 

(Jordan Poole) were struggling 

during practice or a game, he’d 

pull us aside and say, ‘Hey, man. 

Everything’s all right. There’s 

more stuff to worry about than 

worrying about your performance 

or a practice. You gotta move on.’ 

… I’ll never, ever forget what he did 

for me.”

Whether Simmons meant to or 

not, he became a coach that sea-

son. 

Scouting is equal parts science 

and art. While it requires the 

highly-mechanical task of sifting 

through hours of game tape to 

identify everything from an oppo-

nent’s ball-screen coverages to its 

baseline plays, it also requires a 

discerning eye to pick out nuanc-

es and how to best exploit those 

tendencies. This is what keeps 

Simmons in the office late into the 

night. 

After Michigan’s student man-

agers have downloaded, coded 

and saved film of the Wolverines’ 

next opponent, Simmons parses 

through about four to five games, 

records his observations and then 

exchanges notes with the assistant 

coach assigned to that specific 

scout. It’s an interaction predicat-

ed on equal standing between the 

two parties, and one that Simmons 

has become increasingly comfort-

able with. 

“He’ll present an idea to you,” 

Michigan associate head coach 

Phil Martelli said. “He’ll even 

come down after seeing what 

I have written up and the film 

has been produced and he’ll say, 

‘Hey, what do you think about 

this or what do you think about 

that idea?’ because he has seen so 

much of this film. … He’s much 

more assertive in that way this 

year and maybe last year at times 

he felt like he was still a player, like 

he was still connected with those 

guys. He has clearly moved to the 

point where he sees himself very, 

very tied to the staff.”

For Simmons, that newfound 

confidence is a byproduct of 

preparation. 

“If I had to say one thing I’d 

say that I learned to be a grinder 

in the office,” Simmons said. “I 

was always a hard worker on the 

court, getting my work in, trying 

to improve my game but coach 

Howard uses that term a lot, ‘Be a 

grinder,’ and I learned that it takes 

a lot to be a coach. It’s not just 

you come in and you try and tell 

guys what to do. There’s a lot that 

comes with it and I learned how to 

grind in the office.”

From there, Simmons creates 

digestible film packages for How-

ard and the players. In addition to 

a clip consisting of the opponents’ 

general actions and tendencies, he 

creates clips of individual players 

on the opposing team, giving each 

Michigan player a chance to hone 

in on their specific matchups. 

Everything is uploaded to their 

personal iPads for convenient 

viewing. 

Video is not just reserved for 

game days, though. 

“We watch a lot of practice 

film,” Simmons said. “We’ll have 

our scout team run the opposing 

team’s main sets and we’ll put that 

together to make sure we see the 

opposing team running their set, 

then we’ll show the scout team 

running their set and how well or 

bad we did defending it in prac-

tice.” 

Prior to the season, the NCAA 

increased the number of staff 

members allowed on the court 

during practice by two. How-

ard chose Simmons and Director 

of Basketball Operations Chris 

Hunter.

With the student managers tak-

ing over recording duties from the 

stands, Simmons has experienced 

the nitty-gritty of coaching like 

never before. Both he and the Wol-

verines have benefited. 

“His feel for the game and 

knowledge of the game is help-

ful for our staff because it’s just 

another set of eyes that gets to see 

things from a player perspective,” 

Washington said. “And now, he’s 

grown so much by watching so 

much video. He’s watching it from 

a coaching perspective now and 

his advice and his recommenda-

tions are a lot of times on point.”

Added Livers: “Him actually 

playing the game, he understands 

a lot more. He can put himself in 

that situation and be like, ‘Hey, 

this is what you can do on the 

floor. Let’s work on this today.’ 

That’s the type of stuff that he can 

recognize, because he has a feel 

for the game, especially being a 

point guard.”

In his current role, Simmons 

also 
coordinates 
the 
team’s 

recruiting events — which this 

year revolve around Zoom calls 

rather than in-person visits. From 

reaching out to a recruit and his 

family, to operating informative 

powerpoints during the Zoom 

calls and developing, you guessed 

it, film of Michigan’s style of 

play, Simmons is the logistical 

point-person. 

“If there’s a player that (the 

recruit) might be similar to on our 

team now, we’ll put together clips 

and kinda show them our style of 

play and basically where they fit 

in,” Simmons said. “That’s my job, 

to paint that picture for them and 

make sure that they see this is a 

place where they can thrive and 

be successful.”

So far, so good. The Wolver-

ines’ incoming class features 

two five stars, three McDonald’s 

All-Americans and four top-

100 players, making it the No. 1 

recruiting class in the country 

per 247Sports. Howard and the 

rest of the coaching staff might 

be the faces of the operation, but 

Simmons plays an essential part 

in the pitch.

“If there’s an unsung hero in 

recruiting, it’s him,” Martelli 

said. 

At this stage of Simmons’s 

young career, every moment is a 

learning opportunity. Just like 

analyzing film and participating 

in practice, his involvement in 

recruiting is a mutually beneficial 

exercise — he puts forth the effort 

and receives insight in return. 

“That’s my favorite part of the 

(recruiting) call,” Simmons said. 

“When I get to turn my camera 

off, turn my mic off and I can just 

listen. I feel like I learn so much 

during those times because we 

have some great recruiters on 

this staff. … They do such a good 

job connecting with these fami-

lies and being genuine. What I’m 

always saying behind the cam-

era is, ‘Man, we would get every 

kid if they knew that everything 

they’re saying on this Zoom call, 

this is real. We really live this 

every day. This is our culture.’ ”

Union 
Neuchâtel 
was 
in 

the midst of another coaching 

change. The Swiss basketball 

club, located just 30 kilometers 

from the French border, had just 

hired its third coach of the sea-

son. It was only December. 

Simmons — who had signed 

with the team just months after 

Michigan’s 2018 Final Four run 

— quickly realized that his pri-

orities laid elsewhere, an ocean 

away. 

“We did speak to him daily 

while he was there,” Sarita Sim-

mons said. “It was just a little 

rough being that far away from 

home. I think that was the issue, 

so it didn’t work out the way he 

planned there.” 

Added Jaaron: “As a child, I 

never dreamed of going overseas 

to play professionally. I dreamed 

of playing in the NBA, obvious-

ly, but a lot of people are con-

tent with going overseas if they 

don’t make it to the NBA. Me, on 

the other hand, I was definitely 

appreciative and thankful, and 

going into it I wanted to make the 

most out of it and make it work 

but being overseas, that kinda 

wasn’t for me. So it was kinda eas-

ier for me to hang it up and move 

in a different direction.”

His dreams of playing profes-

sional basketball behind him, 

Simmons switched gears entirely 

— or so he thought. He returned to 

Ann Arbor to finish his two-year 

master’s program at Michigan 

with no intention of becoming 

a graduate assistant. But when 

Juwan Howard, newly-appoint-

ed as the coach of the Wolver-

ines, reached out and offered him 

the position, Simmons’s outlook 

changed entirely.

“From day one, I knew this is 

where I needed to be,” Simmons 

said. “It was kinda like a call-

ing from God that I transitioned 

immediately from playing over-

seas to the coaching world. Since 

that day that I stepped foot in 

this office on the other side of the 

game, I’ve been in love with it.” 

As for his future plans, Sim-

mons intends to do what he’s 

always done — put his head down, 

work hard, take every opportu-

nity in stride and let the rest fall 

into place. 

“Short term, I just want to con-

tinue to learn,” Simmons said. 

“Long term, the way my life has 

gone, I’m just going to wait for the 

opportunities. Whatever opportu-

nity presents itself that’s the best 

for me and my family, that’s the 

opportunity I’m going to take. … 

I just want to take it one day, one 

year at a time. That’s pretty much 

how I operate. I don’t want to get 

too far ahead of myself.” 

In the meantime, Simmons 

will just keep flourishing behind-

the-scenes of one of college bas-

ketball’s premier programs. Just 

don’t expect him to be there much 

longer. 

“He’s been a star in his role as 

a video analyst,” Washington said. 

“He’s going to be a star one day if 

he decides to take the coaching 

path.”

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 — 15

CONNOR BRENNAN

Daily Sports Editor

On the Michigan sideline, Jaaron 

Simmons finds a home

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Jaaron Simmons has been grinding in his new role as Michigan’s video analyst.

 

 

 

 

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