University of Tennessee Athletics
Simcox A Familiar Hire For Serrano
June 08, 2015 | Baseball
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee needed a championship-caliber hitting coach to fill the vacancy on Dave Serrano's baseball staff.
At the same time, there just so happened to be a championship-caliber hitting coach standing just on the other side of the netting at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, one with over two decades of Southeastern Conference experience.
After a thorough search across the southeast, Serrano said that one name kept coming up in every conversation he had on the topic. It was the same man who had been standing on the other side of the fence watching his son become a star shortstop for Serrano's team.
Larry Simcox is back in uniform on Tennessee's staff.
"This is a good day for Tennessee baseball," Serrano said in announcing Simcox's addition to the staff. "We're going back into the past a little bit and bringing back a big part of the tradition of the winning ways that happened here in the mid-1990's and early 2000's. Larry was a big part of the success I look at every day when I look at the outfield wall."
Simcox, father of current Vol A.J. Simcox, was an assistant coach for 17 seasons under Rod Delmonico from 1991-2007. His first tenure at UT produced two SEC Championships, three appearances in the College World Series and over 100 Major League Baseball draft picks.
"It's a great day for the Simcox family," he said. "I would like to thank Dave for the opportunity. I'm very excited to put the uniform on again.
"There is nothing like helping develop players and seeing them have success in the classroom and the baseball field and hopefully further their careers at the professional level."
Simcox will be the hitting coach for Serrano, an area that is critical in an era where a new baseball has sent offensive numbers skyward across the country. In his first stint at UT, four players won SEC batting titles, including current New York Yankee Chase Headley in 2005.
"I think that's the first thing we have to do is have a more aggressive offensive mentality as a team," Simcox said. "When these guys show up to the ballpark, I want them to be ready to be aggressive and have confidence. The more confident a hitter is, the better he is going to be."
The hire is popular with former Vols and those in the Knoxville community, where Simcox has run a baseball academy and coached travels teams since leaving UT following the 2007 season.
"My phone has blown up today with former players and people in the community," he said. "Still being in the state and being out coaching, I still have a lot of contacts in the state. So when I start here and make calls, they know who I am, I'm not some guy from somewhere else that they're not familiar with."
One thing that may not be the same this time around: The number on his back.
"I like the guy that wears it right now," Simcox said of A.J., who kept the familiar No. 10 that his father wore as an assistant coach and that he wore as a batboy as a child.
It is just another stich of familiarity, which is what Serrano found he needed most as he completed his search.
"My ultimate goal is to get Tennessee back where it needs to be and Larry is a perfect fit for that," Serrano said. "I'm excited for what the future holds for us."
