Truman State University Athletics

Jerod Simek finished his fifth year with the Bulldogs and the first as head coach (interim in 2017-18) for the Truman State University men's and women's swimming teams in 2019-20 campaign.
 
During Simek’s first year as the assistant swimming coach, he helped lead the women to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships as well as a GLVC title, the first in school history. He helped the men’s program finish 27th at the NCAA Championships and fifth at the GLVC Championships. Throughout the year, Simek primarily worked with the distance swimmers and the team's aerobic needs. He was also in charge of all the weightlifting and conditioning programs throughout the season.
 
Throughout his second season, Simek again worked primarily with the team's distance group and managed the team's aerobic needs as well as facilitated the team's weightlifting and conditioning programs. Simek was also responsible for the men’s recruiting. Simek helped the team to second- and fourth-place finishes on the women’s and men’s sides, respectively, at the GLVC Championships. The Bulldogs’ distance group had strong performances at the conference championships with five women and two men in the 1000-yard freestyle, six women and one man in the 500 freestyle, and five women and one man in the 1650 finish in the top 16. Multiple B-standard times were achieved, but were just shy of an invitation to the 2017 NCAA Division II Championships in Birmingham, Ala. Simek helped the women finish in 31st place and the men in 28th place.
 
In his first season as interim head coach, Simek facilitated all workouts, weightlifting and conditioning programs, and recruiting for the team. He helped the team to third and fifth place finishes on the women’s and men’s, respectively. Throughout the year, there were multiple strong performances, culminating in multiple conference champions, a Freshman of the Year recipient in Natalie Galluzzo, and 12 school records broken under his direction. The team had a 90% improvement ratio at the GLVC and NCAA Championships. At the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships in Greensboro, N.C., the team had three All-American’s and eight honorable mention All-American statuses achieved leading to a 22nd-place finish for the men and 25th place for the women, both an improvement from the previous year.

During the 2019-20 campaign, Simek led the women's team to a fourth place finish at the GLVC Championships while the men finished seventh. At the event, Natalie Galluzzo qualified for Nationals (which was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic) in the 200 IM and in the 400 Medley Relay along with Kaylee Sisson, Emma Brabham and Holly Olson. Six Bulldogs were named All-Americans by the CSCAA: Mark Franz in the 100 breaststroke, Galluzzo in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, Ginny Schranck in the 200 breaststroke and named honorable mentions was the 400 Medley Relay team of Galluzzo, Brabham, Sisson and Olson.
 
Prior to Truman, Simek spent two seasons at Minnesota State-Mankato where he earned his Master's degree in Sport and Exercise Psychology. He was a graduate assistant with the NCAA Division II Mavericks and was in charge of handling workouts, distance training and recruitment for the NSIC program. During his tenure as a student-athlete at Truman, he was a nine-time honorable mention All-American, a team captain and was heavily involved outside the pool as well. He was part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) serving as the president for two years, was president of the Purple Friday Committee and attended Student Senate meetings.
 
Simek has one twin brother, Andrew, and two loving parents, Jim and Ellen.
 
Upon his Hiring...
"It is an honor to be asked back to the program that helped me gain so much knowledge on both an athletic and personal level," Simek said. "I am excited to get to work with the current Truman team to start paying it forward, working to bring more student-athletes to nationals and to help each of them grow into responsible individuals who will make Truman proud."