After 12 years on Richland Campus, Guy Simmons, athletic director and head coach of the baseball team, has retired.

Simmons said the decision to step away from the Richland athletic department is due to family issues, but he also wants to find new paths in his life.

“From now until January, I’m just going to travel and see if I like it and then if I’m bored or at the end of those four, five months, then I will try to find something else to do,” Simmons said.

The first stop on Simmons’ traveling adventure is a seven-day cruise around Canada and then he is coming back to the U.S. to watch a Boston Red Sox game in Boston. After that he plans to visit his family-in-law in Louisiana.

Pensacola, Florida, will be Simmons stop in October. He will attend the National High School Baseball Coaches Associations Convention in Fort Myers, Florida, in December.

Simmons said he will finish his traveling adventure attending the American Baseball Coaches Association January in Nashville, Tennessee.

Then, he will decide what he wants to do. However, Simmons is sure he does not want a job where he needs to work an eight-hour shift or be in closed space.

According to rlcsports.com, Simmons started as the Thunderducks baseball coach in 2010.

The next year he was named assistant athletic director under Tony Summers.

In 2012, Simmons became the athletic director.

Baseball has been an important part of Simmons’ life since he was a child.

“What happened in my life was my dad quit school in sixth grade and went to work in the fields. His job was tough and he was a very, very tough man, so he never got to play sports. I had a hard time pleasing him doing other things. So, I found something that I could do that he never did,” Simmons said.

Simmons said even though he tried other sports such as basketball and football, he was

a natural baseball player since he was 9 or 10 years old.

“He was proud of me in sports. That was my niche. That’s why I got into it and once you’re in, you’re in,” Simmons said.

Simmons holds a bachelor’s degree in social science education. Before he started his career coaching, he was a high school teacher for 14 years teaching history and government.

When he wanted to become a coach, Simmons had to earn a master’s degree.

“So, I got my master in education technology, which was a mistake because I should get it in P.E.,” Simmons said. “When I got the job here, I couldn’t teach. That’s why I became the [athletic director] because every coach has to do a second job and all of them were teachers. So to give a second job, they gave the AD job.”

Although Simmons said that it was the main reason for him to get the athletic director job and not because he had more skills or was more prepared than the other coaches, during his tenure the men’s soccer team won seven championships, the men’s basketball team won one championship and the women’s soccer won one.

That’s nine national championships during the 12 years Simmons served as Richland’s athletic director.

Simmons said that although he will not be coming back to a coaching job at Richland, he will be coming to back to cheer the other sports teams on.

For more information about the athletic department visit rlcsports.com or visit Guadalupe Hall.