MIKE SIMONS AND THE COLTS: MORE THAN WRESTLING

| The stairwell to the Thurston wrestling room, their mantra on the stairs. 

Led by a coach filled with passion and decorated with trophies, Mike Simons and his Thurston Colts wrestling team are making waves in their corner of the country. Simon, a now perennial “Wrestling Coach of the Year,” is dedicated to the craft of instilling the values of a Thurston wrestler in all his athletes. While fostering international relationships at the same time, creating unique experiences for his athletes. 

| Coach Simons’ back to back to back coach of the year of awards, ‘20-’23, among his sea of hardware 

“We’ve had really good community support, we’ve had good admin involved with supporting our program. I think it takes a whole community to have a long-standing program,” Simons said. “If this was before school, we’d probably have 15 to 20 kids here from the wrestling team in the room right now. Lunch time time, there’s kids in here working on homework and looking at wrestling magazines or going through the rule book or just hanging out or watching wrestling videos. And it’s been pretty cool to be a part of that. So it’s almost more like a family.” 
Simons has spent the last 22 years at Thurston as their wrestling coach, social studies teacher and cultural exchange director. 

“When I took over as the cultural exchange director, going back to the wrestling lifestyle, I’m pretty motivated. I don’t like to fail. So I planned on countries that we didn’t have contact with. And I just, through email, started reaching out on websites, and I’d get contacted by federations in other countries and then with social media, Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, I’ve been able to make contacts and stay in contact,” Simons said. 

International wrestling has also played a huge part in the community. Simons has hosted international wrestling trips giving his top wrestlers unique opportunities. He has created a pipeline of borderless wrestlers and opportunities for his own students to experience outside cultures, bringing outside communities into his own.

“I’ve had three different Russian teams that have come through, and you know, they stay with families in the community and compete at schools. We show them what Oregon is all about,” Simons said.

Treated well everywhere they go, including Russia and South Africa. The Thurston Colts have experienced the same community in other countries that drives their own program.

“We train with them a lot. We’d go to their clubs, we’d stay in their houses, live their culture and compete against them,” Simons said. 

Walking into coach Simon's classroom a row of tournament trophies fill a wooden shelf above the outside wall. The other two are filled with souvenirs from his many international wrestling trips. A zebra skin from South Africa, traditional South African masks, and a couple of ushankas (Russian ear flap hats) on top of wrestling trophies were the standouts. Next to the ushankas, a poster of Colby Covington, UFC champion and Thurston alum who wrestled under Simons. On the other end is a wall entirely filled with plaques reading “Coach of the Year,” but Simons attributes the program's success to the community. 
“I grew up in Albany, so about an hour from here, and I attended Oregon State University for four years,” Simons said. 

Before coming to Thurston, Simons coached at Newberg High School in Newberg Oregon. 
“If you look at like, probably the last ten years of Six-A level state championships, they probably won half of the at least, if not more,” Simons said. 
Simons admitted that wrestling wasn’t always his favorite sport. 

“I feel like when I really focused on it, I gradually got better each year, and then won a state championship as a senior in high school,” Simons said. “I just continued to get better.”

Simons attributes his journey as a wrestler to his coaching ability. 

“I think that’s why I’ve been somewhat successful as a coach, because I’ve been able to relate to the kids, especially the ones that aren’t very good when they start,” Simons said. 

Simons’ Father, Lamont Simons, was also a decorated wrestling coach who now resides in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame for his achievements. Right next to him is Bruce Glenn, who had a large influence on Coach Simons. The two took coaching jobs at South and West Albany high school at the same time. Fostering a rival between their sons, naturally. 

“My best friend was Bruce’s son who wrestled at West Albany. Scott Glenn was a three time state champ. He’s one of those guys that was good right away, unlike me” Simons said.

 
Scott Glenn was an all state wrestler at Iowa and eventually transferred to the University of Oregon. He and Simons grew up as close family friends. Glenn, who wrestled on scholarship for Iowa, would eventually transfer to the University of Oregon where he would win All American in 1991. 

“I remember writing him a letter when I was at Iowa… and just encouraged him to be confident his senior year,” said Glenn. 

For Simons the wrestling bloodline runs deep, and it has always been the community that has empowered him. 
“I would sit in his corner, he would sit in my corner. We were always cheering each other on," said Glenn

. 
While Glenn would go on to wrestle at University of Oregon, Simons would continue the traditions of being crosstown rivals wrestling at Oregon State University.

| Local Lebanon news page of Lamont Simons and Bruce Glenn Wrestling Hall of Fame Inductions, hung in Simons classroom. 

At OSU, Simons wrestled under Dale Thomas, a tenured coach for the Beavers, member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. Thomas holds a dual meet record of 616-168-13, the NCAA record for wins in a coaching career.
“That was probably the biggest influence, besides my father, on wrestling,” Simons said.
 His senior year, Simons would Wrestle under Mark Johnson, an Olympian and previous Iowa coach. Simons would go on to be an assistant coach for Johnson at OSU the following year. 

“I wanted to be a multiple time All American and all that. You know, none of that happened for me. I had knee injuries and, you know, I could make excuses and all that, but I think I’m the coach I am and the person I am because of those experiences,” Simons said. 

Simons is a very relatable person even with all his achievements, he gave some insight on how to grapple with not feeling fulfilled in reaching one's full potential. 

“I’ve kind of used it as motivation to get better, that chapter of my life was done as a competitor. Now I got the chance to be the best I can be at the next chapter, and my chapter right now is coaching,” Simons said. 

This is something Simons shares with his students and athletes as well. 

“My job is to get better every day. And I tell my kids I want them to work hard. I want to learn from them,” Simons said. “And I’m a lifelong learner with the sport of wrestling, and I like to see what these kids learn.” 

The program isn’t even advertised as wrestling, but rather a cross fit type of training. Simons has gotten creative in his recruiting tactics because he wants to make an impact on as many students as possible, a reflection of his coaching mindset. 

“I feel like the sports programs are supported really well. And every other program at the school,  which is a big deal to me, band, theater, all of our clubs, this community is really behind supporting the youth,” Simons said. “But we haven’t always been a powerhouse in wrestling, but we’ve still been supported. And sometimes the years where you don’t have the best team, the community really rallies behind you because they know that we’ll build it back.” 

Coach Simons tries to get as many kids into the wrestling program as he can, because he doesn’t define being a good coach by the amount of trophies or wins. Rather he measures his success by how many kids he can get to stick with something difficult. 

“I feel like I’ve made a difference in their life, and I’m setting them up with good work ethic. Because if you can make it through our Thurston wrestling program for four years, you’ve learned how to work hard,” Simons said. 

The lessons learned in wrestling are easily applicable to life, a large part of Simons’ coaching mentality. 

“Wrestling teaches you to work through tough situations, and when you’re beat up not feeling good, and you still have to get out of bed and put out your best effort,” Simons said. 

A large part of Simons program is the international teams he has brought to Thurston highschool. The list includes Germany, Russia, Japan and South Africa. Simons has a long list of connections in the wrestling world, however he built a name for himself, and it was through his personal outreach he was able to bring international wrestling teams to Thurston. 

Simons carries himself with humility, and has created a pipeline of international wrestlers and opportunities for his own students to experience outside cultures and bring outside communities into his own.
It seems that Simons has become a mosaic of the great wrestlers he was surrounded by as a player, pulling from his own father, Dale Thomas and coach Bruce Glenn. 

Simons and the Colts now look forward to the ‘24-’25 wrestling season which is fast approaching. With seven of nine returning girls state placers off a state championship team. 

“We always have a diamond in the rough, I don’t know who it is yet, but I always get one girl who’s a freshman,” Simons said.

As for the boys, they have nine out of 11 state placers coming back as well as a returning state champion, whose sister also wrestled and won a state title under Simons. 

“I always tell our kids, when you step on the mat, I hope somebody sees you and knows that they’re wrestling a Thurston Wrestler, and they know they better be ready, because my kids wrestle hard,” Simons said.