BGSU has found a new men’s basketball coach, announcing the hire of former Southern Utah Head Coach Todd Simon on Wednesday. Simon replaces Michael Huger, who BG fired on March 5 after he led the Falcons to just 11 wins this past season.   

Simon just finished his seventh season as the men’s basketball coach at Southern Utah, where he led the Thunderbirds to a 22-12 overall record, a 12-6 record in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and an appearance in the WAC Championship game. The hiring of Simon marks BGSU Director of Athletics Derek van de Merwe’s first big coaching hire since he came to BG just over four months ago.  

“The Falcon community will soon see and experience what I have learned through this search process. He is a coach who wants to be here. He is highly respected by his peers around the country,” van de Merwe said. “He is a coach who is committed to the student-athlete, the student experience and truly values the educational process. He embraces the academic mission of the University. He knows how to build a successful program, and he loves to win!”   

Over his seven seasons at Southern Utah, Simon compiled a 118-106 overall record and a 64-64 conference record. Simon oversaw the program’s transition from the Big Sky to the WAC this past season.   

“My family and I look forward to being servant leaders to our student-athletes, to our campus and to the Bowling Green community. We are dedicated to developing our young men in the program both on and off the court, and we are excited to get to Bowling Green to start building relationships,” Simon said. “We are going to bring an intense and exciting brand of up-tempo basketball to the Stroh Center and have an expectation to build one of the best home court advantages in the nation.”  

In the 2020-2021 season, Simon led the Thunderbirds to their first Big Sky regular season championship with 23 wins, the second most in program history. After the season, Simon was named Big Sky coach of the year.   

In the 2018-2019 season, Simon led Southern Utah to a 17-17 overall record, marking the first time SUU finished with a non-losing record since the 2006-2007 season, 12 years prior. Simon finished his tenure at Southern Utah with four straight winning seasons, including three straight seasons with 20 or more wins.   

Before being named the head coach at SUU, Simon served as the interim head coach at UNLV in the 2015-2016 season, guiding the Runnin’ Rebels to a 9-8 record in his 17-game stint.   

Simon has developed and coached multiple players that made it to the NBA, including Anthony Bennett, Avery Bradley, Christian Wood and Tristan Thompson.   

Simon will have the challenge of rebuilding a program that has finished with a losing record two seasons in a row, had six players enter the transfer portal after the season ended and has not made the NCAA Tournament since 1968, tied for the third-longest drought in the nation.

For more information about the team, visit the athletics webpage.