Ex-UNLV coach Todd Simon leads turnaround at Southern Utah

When Todd Simon became UNLV’s interim head coach in January, he inherited a team heading in the wrong direction after three straight losses to begin conference play.

Simon went 9-8 in his short stint at the helm of the Rebels, leading a team that was wracked with injuries.

But Simon, who is back in Las Vegas this week coaching Southern Utah in the Men Who Speak Up Main Event at the MGM Grand, now has a fresh start.

He inherited another challenge, as the Thunderbirds have appeared in the NCAA Tournament just once — in 2001 — and haven’t posted a winning record since 2006-07.

So far, Simon has them at 1-3 on the season after they lost 83-68 to Coastal Carolina on Monday. They will play one more tournament game against Ball State on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. before leaving Las Vegas.

But Simon knows the process won’t be quick and has started by trying to change the culture of the program.

“The first part about it is building a culture, and that’s everything for us right now. That’s priority one through 10 is we need to kind of rebuild this thing from the ground up and change almost everything,” Simon said. “Even from our academic systems to how we’re doing things on the court, how we travel, everything, everything is part of our culture, and so we’re trying to raise people and fine young men in addition to basketball players, so that’s kind of where it starts.”

Simon talked about the program’s “non-negotiables,” which include going to every class, on time, and sitting in the front every day. “Acting the proper way,” and being involved in the community and being role models.

“We’re not going to have anyone in this program that I don’t want my three young boys around because they’re at practice. We’re going to do things just the right way from the top to the bottom … and so far this group has done that,” Simon said. “We’re a player development program, and, more accurately, we’re a person development program.”

Simon described his time in charge of the Rebels as a “whirlwind,” but said it reinforced a few things, which he’s brought with him into his new job.

“A big tenant of what our program is about is controlling our attitude and effort every day and controlling what we can control and that was a big part of our process and being able to get what we could out of the group that we had at the time (at UNLV),” Simon said. “That’s where we’re at with this group. We’re continuing to instill the same things as we move forward, and if we do those things, a lot of other things fall in place.”

Simon will have a chance to play UNLV as the Rebels visit Cedar City, Utah, on Nov. 30. While he said that game would be fun and he’d always have an affinity for UNLV, where he earned a master’s degree, he’s more focused on the immediate task at hand.

In taking over at Southern Utah, he now has his chance to leave his mark on a program that has floundered for years.

Their previous coach, Nick Robinson, was 28-90 in his tenure, which lasted from 2012-16. The Thunderbirds won six games last season. In 2013-14, they won two.

So Simon certainly has his work cut out for him. But it’s a challenge from which he didn’t back down.

“The potential there and the community and the opportunity to build a program with an administration that really wants to win was very enticing,” Simon said. “It’s a great place to raise a family, and so there was a lot of upside.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand