University of North Texas Athletics
Photo by: Ben Stewart
The Foundation
9/3/2020 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DENTON – When North Texas men's basketball head coach Grant McCasland and his staff were hired in the spring of 2017 they knew they had to find their base.
A player who could grow with the program and be the centerpiece holding everything together as parts around morphed and changed while they built towards a championship and more.
Zachary Simmons was their guy.
Though initially recruited and signed to play with former UNT head coach Tony Benford in the fall of 2016, the new Mean Green coaches quickly acted. Associate head coach Ross Hodge was good friends with Simmons' AAU coach, and through that they got to him and told him of their plan.
"We went to his house and told him our vision," Hodge explained. "We told him 'you need to be ready to play right away, because you are going to be the pillar that takes us to success.'"
Three years later and Simmons has followed through.
The foundation the big man in the middle has brought to the program has led UNT to what has been one of its most successful three-year stretches in program history. And as he approaches multiple program records such as career wins and career field goal percentage, Simmons will likely go down in history as one of UNT's best big men.
"There's been a lot of growth and maturing," Simmons said. "But really the biggest thing was trusting the coaches from the beginning and believing in them that we could accomplish all this."
"I'm glad I did," he added.
When you sit down and think about all Simmons has been through and done in just three full years at North Texas it's staggering.
Despite a slow start during his freshman season, Simmons helped lead the Mean Green to the program's first NCAA national postseason title with the 2018 College Basketball Invitational crown. During the six-game tournament, Simmons averaged a double-double and had a 17 and 22-rebound performance.
He finished his freshman season by setting the program-record for single-season field goal percentage at 66.2 percent.
As a sophomore, Simmons now a for sure starter in the lineup, led UNT to another 20-win season and the program's best start to a season ever at 16-1. He shot 61.6 percent from the field and became the first player in program history with multiple seasons of shooting above 60-percent.
The peaks and valleys of Simmons and the program's last three years reached an all-time high last year when the then junior led the team to the 2020 Conference USA championship, the program's first regular season league title in 31 years.
"He learned how to affect the game without scoring," Hodge said. "Towards the end of the season last year he was one of our best passers and that added a whole another level to his game and dimension to our team and how opponents game planned us."
Affecting change has gone beyond just finding ways to win on the court for Simmons.
Now as the seasoned grizzly vet approaching 100 career starts it's his turn to prepare and pass the foundation torch.
"Obviously I want to win another conference championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament," Simmons said. "But I want to be a good teammate and share my knowledge with the young guys so they can keep it going."
The 2020-21 North Texas team is loaded with seniors and upperclassmen who combined have played in over 250 games for UNT.
But Simmons has made sure to be there for the younger guys.
"On the court he's like another coach," said freshman forward Abou Ousmane. "He's someone who I trust is showing me the right way to do things and how to be successful."
In the day and age of college basketball players transferring and one-and-dones, Simmons has stayed true to the green. He's seen the bigger picture even at times when that wasn't so easy. And what has stuck most with his coaches is that he believed in them.
Because of that, the Mean Green enter the 2020-21 season as one of the most promising programs in the nation.
"Zach believed in us and the process before anyone else did," Hodge said. "He's been the foundation for everything that's happened over the last three years and all the success we have moving forward. He was the groundwork."
Support Mean Green student-athletes by visiting MeanGreenScholarshipFund.com
A player who could grow with the program and be the centerpiece holding everything together as parts around morphed and changed while they built towards a championship and more.
Zachary Simmons was their guy.
Though initially recruited and signed to play with former UNT head coach Tony Benford in the fall of 2016, the new Mean Green coaches quickly acted. Associate head coach Ross Hodge was good friends with Simmons' AAU coach, and through that they got to him and told him of their plan.
"We went to his house and told him our vision," Hodge explained. "We told him 'you need to be ready to play right away, because you are going to be the pillar that takes us to success.'"
Three years later and Simmons has followed through.
The foundation the big man in the middle has brought to the program has led UNT to what has been one of its most successful three-year stretches in program history. And as he approaches multiple program records such as career wins and career field goal percentage, Simmons will likely go down in history as one of UNT's best big men.
"There's been a lot of growth and maturing," Simmons said. "But really the biggest thing was trusting the coaches from the beginning and believing in them that we could accomplish all this."
"I'm glad I did," he added.
When you sit down and think about all Simmons has been through and done in just three full years at North Texas it's staggering.
Despite a slow start during his freshman season, Simmons helped lead the Mean Green to the program's first NCAA national postseason title with the 2018 College Basketball Invitational crown. During the six-game tournament, Simmons averaged a double-double and had a 17 and 22-rebound performance.
He finished his freshman season by setting the program-record for single-season field goal percentage at 66.2 percent.
As a sophomore, Simmons now a for sure starter in the lineup, led UNT to another 20-win season and the program's best start to a season ever at 16-1. He shot 61.6 percent from the field and became the first player in program history with multiple seasons of shooting above 60-percent.
The peaks and valleys of Simmons and the program's last three years reached an all-time high last year when the then junior led the team to the 2020 Conference USA championship, the program's first regular season league title in 31 years.
"He learned how to affect the game without scoring," Hodge said. "Towards the end of the season last year he was one of our best passers and that added a whole another level to his game and dimension to our team and how opponents game planned us."
Affecting change has gone beyond just finding ways to win on the court for Simmons.
Now as the seasoned grizzly vet approaching 100 career starts it's his turn to prepare and pass the foundation torch.
"Obviously I want to win another conference championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament," Simmons said. "But I want to be a good teammate and share my knowledge with the young guys so they can keep it going."
The 2020-21 North Texas team is loaded with seniors and upperclassmen who combined have played in over 250 games for UNT.
But Simmons has made sure to be there for the younger guys.
"On the court he's like another coach," said freshman forward Abou Ousmane. "He's someone who I trust is showing me the right way to do things and how to be successful."
In the day and age of college basketball players transferring and one-and-dones, Simmons has stayed true to the green. He's seen the bigger picture even at times when that wasn't so easy. And what has stuck most with his coaches is that he believed in them.
Because of that, the Mean Green enter the 2020-21 season as one of the most promising programs in the nation.
"Zach believed in us and the process before anyone else did," Hodge said. "He's been the foundation for everything that's happened over the last three years and all the success we have moving forward. He was the groundwork."
Support Mean Green student-athletes by visiting MeanGreenScholarshipFund.com
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