Simmons brings 363 career prep wins to Wallace State CC:
GDW Analysis:
HANCEVILLE: In the last seven years of women's basketball at Wallace State Community College, the Lady Lions have gone 166 & 31, a total of 197 games. The winning percentage is .846 with an average of 24 victories per season, six of them under Jessica McBrayer and 2023/24 under Allen Sharpe.
Both no longer exist at the Hanceville-based college.
Wallace State has hired a former assistant to Sharpe that has put together a solid resume in coaching high school hoops in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Joseph Simmons was named the new leader of the Lady Lions by President Vickie Karolewics earlier this week.
“We are proud to welcome Coach Simmons back to Wallace State and look forward to his continuing the tradition of winning for the Lady Lions,” Karolewics said.
While assisting Sharpe between 2006 to 2010, the Lions had 120 victories and only 15 losses, plus a conference championship.
Simmons left Wallace and became girls head coach at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky through 2017.
He entered the state of Tennessee, coaching the girls at Goodpasture Christian School up to 2022. The last two years Simmons was in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee at Green Hill High School.
His prep coaching record is 363 wins, 156 losses, a total of 519 games and a winning clip of .693.
“I am extremely humbled and honored to be named the head women’s basketball coach at Wallace State,” Simmons said. “I want to thank Dr. Karolewics for entrusting me with leading the women’s basketball program. I look forward to building upon the history and tradition of success of this program. I’m looking forward to meeting the team and starting the process of building relationships with them.
“Wallace State is a special place, and my family and I are excited to be back,” he added. “My wife and I moved here right after we got married. We had our first child while I was previously coaching at Wallace State. My wife is an alumnus of WSCC. So, it definitely feels like we are coming home. I’m ready to hit the ground running.”
Gameday Weekly has been informed that Toni West, who helped Sharpe as an assistant last season, is still with the squad.
West, formerly known for her greatness as a player at Cold Springs and then on to Shelton State, got a good taste of being on the bench not in a uniform for the first time and made progress through the season from scouting reports of the opposition to looking at prospects for the future of Lady Lions' basketball.
GDW was told by sources following Sharpe stepping down in April to become the coach of the Alabama Huntsville Lady Chargers, the following were planning to come back for their sophomore season. They include Kallie Tinker of Pisgah, Ella Collum of Cullman and Nylla Fuller of Sparkman, who were regular starters.
Layla Etchison of Hoover and Jaden Toney of Hazel Green were to be back to keep this team around the top of the Alabama Community College Conference.
Recently, newcomers were added through West handling the process of getting them signed. They all come from a state championship school in 2023/24.
Good Hope's talented twins, Heather and Bailey Tetro, will be in the orange and blue. They were part of an incredible state crown won by the school in SW Cullman County for the first time. Bailey Tetro was named the MVP of the Final Four and shared the honor of the Bill Shelton Award at the Cullman County tournament with teammate Ivey Maddox.
Both were on the 1st group of the GDW all performance basketball team at point guard, along with Cullman's Ally Sharpe, the daughter of coach Sharpe.
Wallace then got Idaysia Mercer of 5A state champion Jasper. Her talent in the backcourt brought the Lady Vikings the blue trophy for the first time. Mercer choose Wallace State as GDW knew this young lady was being looked at by other programs.
Simmons is to begin the process of coming to Wallace next week. A team camp is to be hosted by the Lady Lions on Tuesday at Tom Drake Coliseum as this was coordinated by West.
Wallace is keeping up its tradition of playdays that the AHSAA allows in June for several seasons between McBrayer and Sharpe running the show.
Photo of new Wallace State women's basketball coach Joseph Simmons. Photo provided by WSCC Media Relations.
