Former Oklahoma State football coach Bob Simmons dies at 77

Former Oklahoma State head football coach Bob Simmons died Tuesday, the school announced.

He was 77. 

Specifics of his death are not yet known.

Simmons, who was the first and only Black head football coach at Oklahoma State, spent six seasons leading the Cowboys. The school hired him ahead of the 1995 campaign to replace Pat Jones, who had managed just two conference wins over four seasons. 

Simmons led the Cowboys to an 8-4 record in 1997. They reached as high as No. 12 in the national rankings that season and earned a trip to the Alamo Bowl, which was the program’s only bowl appearance under his watch and the school’s first in nearly a decade. Simmons earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors that season.

In total, Simmons finished 30-38 over his six seasons with the Cowboys. He parted with the program after the 2000 season, and was eventually replaced by Les Miles. 

That marked Simmons’ only head coaching stop in his career, though he spent decades as an assistant throughout the sport, and was on staff as the linebackers coach at Colorado in 1990 when the Buffaloes won the national championship. Simmons also spent time on staff at Notre Dame, Washington, Toledo and West Virginia.