Golfer Josh Simer picked as Tech's NCAA Man of the Year

by Thomas Corhern
Cookeville Herald-Citizen

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- In college athletics, it's not just about being the best athlete or the best student as one can be. Sometimes, the important thing is to just go out and have a little fun.

Throughout this recent campaign, senior Tennessee Tech golfer Josh Simer made that a priority. With that, Simer had a breakout year on the course, as well as perfect scores in the classroom and a busy schedule of giving his time back to the community.

Through those efforts, Simer was selected as the winner for the 2010 Tennessee Tech Man of the Year award.

Simer had some tough competition for the award, including Taylor Askew (football), Frank Davis (basketball), Lee Henry (baseball), Tate McMillan (baseball), Elijah Muhammad (basketball) and Jarrad Read (cross country).

"It's a great honor," Simer said. "I know was a finalist with several other outstanding athletes, and certainly being selected as the winner among those guys is pretty neat.

"It's really been a great year from start to finish. I went through this season with a different mind-set and it was more about having fun on the golf course. I will definitely concede that it wasn't my play on the golf course that have gotten me most of my accolades -- it's been in the classroom, and I've focused on that my entire career."

Simer is the first winner of the Man of the Year award from the men's golf program. Previous winners include: Ben Holt (1993, baseball), Mike Kinney (1994, baseball), Willie Queen (1995, football), Gerald Bentley (1996, football), Robert Taylor (1997, football), Jeff Norman (1998, football), T.J. Christian (1999, football), Wes Gallagher (2000, football), Larrie Smith (2001, basketball), Grant Swallows (2002, football), Brent Jolly (2003, basketball), Luis Aguerrevere (2004, tennis), Brett Vavra (2005, football), David McMahan (2006, football), Anthony Ash (2007, football), Thomas Nelson (2008, baseball) and Bradley Thompson (2009, football).

"When I started and took over the team two years ago after (former Tech golf coach) Bobby (Nichols') passing, I inherited the best 15 guys at that time," said TTU golf coach Craig King. "Through graduation and those sorts of things, as well as learning about everyone of them, Josh has always been at the forefront on the academic side, of course, with a 4.0 grade point average. He's always been very dedicated and conscientious of that. He's also shown a lot of passion for his golf and I think he really showed it in this last year."