Jan. 21, 2010
Tom Sims Named Defensive Line/Assistant Head Coach
Youngstown -- Youngstown State Head Football Coach Eric Wolford announced on Thursday that Tom Sims has joined the Penguins' coaching staff as the defensive line and assistant head coach. Sims, who played in the NFL from 1990-96, has spent the last nine years coaching defensive linemen at Bowl Championship Series schools. Most recently, Sims coached at Kansas in 2009.
Wolford coached the offensive line opposite Sims' defensive units at Illinois when the two were on the staff there in 2007 and 2008.
"After spending two seasons at Illinois, I felt he was the best defensive line coach I've ever been around," Wolford said. "His relationships and rapport with his players is something that I want all our coaches to have. He was an overachiever out of high school who made it to the NFL. Our players here at YSU will have a guy on this staff who knows what it takes to make it to the next level."
Sims is a 13-year coaching veteran, who has spent eight of the past nine seasons in the Big Ten. He spent the 2001-04 campaigns at Minnesota and the 2005-08 seasons at Illinois.
Last year the defensive unit at Kansas posted 31 sacks in 12 contests ranking 26th nationally with 2.58 collars per game. Leading the way was defensive end Max Onyegbule who scored two touchdowns to go along with six sacks on the campaign. Fellow end Jake Laptad led the squad with 6.5 sacks. The duo combined for 23 tackles for losses while each finished with nine quarterback hurries.
In his last year at Illinois in 2008, the defense registered 32 sacks, leading the conference in sacks per game (2.7 a contest). A year earlier, the program recorded a school record 40 sacks in 2007, including 28.5 by defensive linemen.
He coached four All-Big Ten honorees and his tenure was highlighted by an appearance in the 2008 Rose Bowl. The Illini posted a 9-4 overall record, including a win at top-ranked Ohio State.
The 2006 Fighting Illini had 23 sacks, a nine-sack improvement from the previous campaign, which was Sims' first year with the program.
Sims had four strong campaigns at Minnesota in his first Big Ten stop. The Gophers won 29 games in his four seasons, including a 10-win campaign in 2003. The program appeared in two Music City Bowls and a Sun Bowl during his tenure. In 2003 and 2004, the UM defense held the opposition to fewer than 130 yards rushing per game. In 2002, the Gophers registered 31 sacks while in 2003, the program had 26 and 24 in 2004.
Sims played seven seasons as a defensive tackle in the National Football League, including four with Kansas City (1990-92, 1996), two with Indianapolis (1993-94) and was in camp with Minnesota (1995). Sims played 47 games in the NFL finishing with 60 career tackles and four sacks. He had a career-best 30 stops while playing for Indianapolis in 1993.