Stephanie Simmons Added to NCAA Softball Selection Committee
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stephanie Simmons, the University of Kentucky’s sport administrator for softball the last seven years and the Associate Athletic Director for Life Performance, has been added to the NCAA Softball Selection Committee.
As part of her appointment to the committee, Simmons will work closely with nine other committee members to assign and select the 64 teams that will compete for the NCAA Softball National Championship each year. She will report to Indianapolis the week of the conference championships and help bracket the 64-team tournament annually.
“I am extremely humbled and honored to serve on such a prestigious committee,” Simmons said. “The sport of softball continues to gain national traction, and I look forward to working with my fellow committee members on giving the attention and respect that the game of softball and the Road to the Women’s College World Series has earned. I want to thank Mitch Barnhart and the Southeastern Conference for putting me in position to serve on such a distinguished platform. I am excited to get started.”
Her term on the selection committee is for four years, lasting from 2020-2023. Simmons joins Conference USA’s Kelly Gatwood as the two new members of the NCAA selection committee this season.
Prior to moving into administration in 2013, she served as the Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic Sports at Kentucky, where she and her staff oversaw the athletic development of the majority of UK’s student-athletes for 10 years. While in that role, she worked directly with women’s basketball, softball, volleyball and men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams.
Simmons came to UK from UCLA, where she worked from 1998-2002. She left the Bruins as the associate head strength and conditioning coach in charge of volleyball, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, women’s swimming, women’s basketball and softball. While at UCLA, she worked with three national championship teams and coached several Olympians. She was actively involved in competitive Olympic weightlifting and qualified for the American Open in 1999.
Simmons began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Ohio University, which is also where she earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees, she was a member of the volleyball team.
She is married to Matt Simmons, and the couple has two daughters, Piper and Charlee.
The 2020 NCAA softball season begins on February 6.
For more on UK Softball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram using @UKSoftball.
