Gregory Simmonds enters the 2022 season as the Volunteer Assistant Coach for VCU Men’s Soccer after having served as the Director of Student-Athlete Development for the Rams during 2021.
As a player, Simmonds had a prolific career at the highest levels of the game in the North American region in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A member of the Jamaican National Team at both the senior and youth levels, Simmonds appeared in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for D.C. United in 1999.
Simmonds started his professional career with the Hershey Wildcats, where he was named USL-1 Rookie of the Year in 1999 and Team MVP in 2000. He scored 35 goals and had 16 assists with the Wildcats. Simmonds signed with Major League Soccer’s Miami Fusion in 2001, tallying four goals and two assists in league and U.S. Open Cup matches.
In 2002, he led the Rochester Rhinos with nine goals and six assists, then played 27 games with the Richmond Kickers in 2003. Simmonds was a member of the Charleston Battery from 2004-05, leading the USL First Division side with 18 goals and nine assists. He was the Virginia Beach Mariners team MVP in 2006 after an all-star season of nine goals and five assists.
Simmonds finished his professional career with 75 goals and 37 assists, last playing for the Puerto Rico Islanders.
Simmonds retired from professional soccer shortly after he founded the Soccer and Futsal programs at U-TURN Sports Performance Academy where he served as Director for over three years. Simmonds then became the Co-Founder and President of Own Touch Soccer, as well as Co-Founder and President of FutsalRVA. Simmonds is a US National Pro A License Coach.
Simmonds still holds the record for goals scored at his alma mater, Howard University, and was the first-ever All-American athlete at Sherwood High School in Olney, Md.
