After weeks of waiting, Great Falls names former Keenan assistant new football coach
Keenan assistant DeMarcus Simons has been picked as the next Great Falls football coach.
The hire was approved at Monday’s Chester County School board meeting, after weeks of delays because of infrequent meetings due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Simons replaces Tom Butler, who stepped down in February after one season. Butler left to become an assistant coach at Greenwood, where he previously worked.
“He was the best fit for our program and players,” Great Falls athletic director Garrett Knight said. “His drive and his energy and help bring the winning ways back to the football team. This can be the guy we can hang our hat on for years to come.”
The school had more than 50 applicants for the job.
Simons has been an assistant at Keenan High in Columbia the past three years. Keenan averaged 19.9 points per game with Simons as its quarterbacks coach last season. Simons played college football for three seasons at Benedict and played five seasons of indoor football, with his last stop at Dalton Force in Georgia.
Last season, Great Falls went 5-5 and made the 1A state playoffs for the first time since 2014. The year before, under head coach Scotty Steen, the Red Devils went 4-7. Before that, they went two straight seasons without a win.
Great Falls hasn’t won a football state championship since 1991, and before that, since 1934.
Meeting Great Falls’ new coach
Simons said he’s excited about “having the keys to the car” for the first time in his career, and that he’s thankful to Great Falls principal Dr. Jamal Sanders and athletic director Garrett Knight for giving him the opportunity to be a head coach.
“I’ve been playing football since I was 6 years old, so if I don’t know anything, I know some football,” he told The Herald in a phone interview. “I want to make these guys better men at the end of the day.”
Per South Carolina High School League rules amid the pandemic, teams currently aren’t permitted to meet or work out in person. Thus, it isn’t yet clear when Simons will be able to meet his players face-to-face for the first time.
Simons said he watched Great Falls compete for a basketball state championship in March, so he saw the tail end of a season that ended in Great Falls’ first state title since 2012.
His takeaway?
“They had athletes out there,” he said. “They could win the basketball championship, why not win the football championship?”
Coming from a 3A school, Simons will need to adjust to the needs of a 1A football program — among them, building a team from a limited student pool. Great Falls has under 400 students grades 6-12, and is in a town with a population of less than 2,000.
Simons said he is prepared for that particular challenge, citing his nine-season tenure with Keenan, which moved up from 2A to 3A after realignment in 2018.
“I know how to use 27 guys as the team,” he said. “You gotta get some students who really believe in you, and you have to believe in them.”
This story was originally published May 18, 2020 at 7:58 PM.
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