By RayJaun Stelly, The Seattle Medium
Before becoming the new head coach of the girls’ basketball program at Garfield High School, Tre Simmons had carved out a decorated basketball career of his own. Born and raised in Seattle, the Garfield alum bleeds purple.
At the start of the season what started out as Simmons only coaching for two games during the school’s search in finding someone to take over the Garfield girls’ basketball program, and after one game, he was the man for the job. Simmons now is looking to lead them on their quest to win their third straight championship.
“I started to help out and was only supposed to coach the first two games, but when they [the players] found out that someone else was actually taking the job they didn’t like that,” said Simmons “they didn’t want anybody else coming in that they weren’t familiar with.”
Beginning with earning the trust of his players from the start, Simmons stated, “the players got comfortable with me coaching them, despite having another coach re-directing them with his system.”
The Lady Bulldogs coming off back-to-back State championship titles and a new coach, a coach who has the experience of winning multiple championships as a player and coach combined. Embracing the title of being named Head Coach, Simmons has his girls’ team off to a terrific 5-0 start, extending their 21-game winning streak from last season to 26.
Garfield’s Katie Fiso, who is ranked as a four-star point guard by ESPN.com, believes in Simmons and his approach to the game.
“Playing for Coach Tre has been great,” says Fiso. “He is an amazing coach and has done a real good job stepping into this coaching position.
“I try to get as much feedback on my game from him because I know he has a lot of basketball experience and I appreciate his perspective on the game,” she added.
Upon graduating from Garfield, Simmons took the junior college route playing at Odessa and Green River Community College. Before finding himself back wearing purple at the University of Washington, he led the Northwest Athletic Association Community Colleges in scoring, averaging 29.8 points and 9 rebounds.
In his two years at Montlake, he earned First-Team Pac10, and Second-Team NABC All-District selection, averaging 16 points his senior year which helped the Huskies win their first Pac-10 tournament to give them a number one seed into the NCAA tournament.
Completing his collegiate career ranked fourth on the Huskies all-time list for three-point percentage, making 41.2 percent of his three-pointers, Simmons’s 128 career three-pointers is the third-highest total in program history, and he finished his career as the school record holder for three-pointers in a single-season with 80.
After his senior season, Simmons would go undrafted and eventually was invited to the Atlanta Hawks training camp. After not making the Hawks final roster, Simmons looked to continue his career overseas, where he would play for 14 seasons in Spain, Greece, France, Israel, the Czech Republic, and Russia.
During his career overseas, Simmons would win seven championships in the Israeli Super League, Czech NBL, and Czech Cup twice. He would also win the Euro Challenge championship once, and won four most valuable players awards.
“I was never the type of guy who was trying to force myself into the NBA,” said Simmons. “I had a nice career. I’m totally fine with it.”
Wrapping up his professional career and officially retiring, Simmons made his way back home, returning to where it all started: Garfield High School. Everything came full circle once he returned to the sidelines as an assistant coach with his high school and college teammate, Brandon Roy. Joining the boys’ basketball staff, Simmons’s positive impact and mentorship from his professional experience have been critical in the Bulldog’s success.
Garfield boys’ shooting guard Legend Smiley said, “Tre has a huge impact. He brings what he learned at the next level and teaches us, if that is doing drills or if that is just talking to us.”
After losing to Foss in the state tournament semifinal 20-plus years ago, Simmons returned to the Tacoma Dome and finally captured a championship ring, but this time as a coach. A great start to his high school coaching career, the following 2020-21 season would be limited due to COVID, and the 2021-22 season ended with them finishing third place. This year Simmons was tacked on with a new role.
In addition to that when asked what Simmons thinks his strongest trait as a coach was, he responded by saying, “I think the relationships that I have with them makes it easier for them to come to me and talk to me about anything.”
Although he is a champion as an assistant coach on the boys’ side, now a head coach of the Lady Bulldogs, Simmons along with his players has an incredible opportunity.
Simmons expressed his mindset surrounding this season by saying, “one game at a time, every game we have a target on our back being the most dominant program in the state. We have to always be vigilant and stay the course, we tell our players all the time. We do not want to be the most talented we want to be the toughest.”
While Simmons is in the unenviable position of taking over a program that has won back-to-back state championships and is expected to compete for a third straight title, he recognizes that the success of this team will be just as much about the overall mindset of the team as it is about their talent.
“[We take it] one game at a time,” says Simmons. “Every game we have a target on our back being the most dominant program in the state. We have to always be vigilant and stay the course. We tell our players all the time, we do not want to be the most talented we want to be the toughest.”
