UNC Legend Brian Simmons Joining Staff as a Senior Advisor
CHAPEL HILL – Carolina football legend Brian Simmons is joining the UNC football staff as a Senior Advisor to the Head Coach/Pro Liaison, Mack Brown announced on Tuesday. Simmons, a 10-year NFL veteran and eight-year NFL Scout, will take over in the Senior Advisor role for Darrell Moody, who elected to retire following the 2023 season.
“I want to congratulate Darrell Moody on an outstanding career as a coach, scout and staff member,” Brown said. “Darrell has been around the game a long time and took great pride in developing young men as a coach. He then used that experience to transition to the scouting and evaluation world, again, playing a huge role in helping young football players reach the NFL. We’re grateful for his contributions to the program and wish him nothing but the best in retirement.
“When we found out we were going to need to replace Darrell, we went through an exhaustive search to find the best possible replacement, and Brian Simmons kept jumping out as the perfect candidate. Obviously, Carolina fans know Brian well as he is one of the greatest players in program history. But, he’s uniquely qualified to fill this role as he has extensive experience both as an NFL player and long-time scout. He’s also been heavily involved at the high school football level, so he’s going to be able to come in, relate to our players, and give them the guidance and feedback they need to prepare properly for the NFL. We can’t wait for Brian to get back to Chapel Hill and get to work.”
In his role with Carolina, Simmons will serve as the program’s liaison with NFL scouts, working with them on a daily basis to assist with their evaluations of Tar Heel players. He will organize and oversee UNC’s annual Pro Day event and work directly with Carolina players to provide feedback and assessments as they chase their dream of playing in the NFL.
Most recently, Simmons was the Head Coach at Windermere Prep in Florida after having served as the Co-Defensive Coordinator and Special Assistant to the Head Coach. In total, he has eight years of experience at the high school coaching level to go along with his scouting and playing career. Simmons also handled color analyst duties for UNC football radio broadcasts on the Tar Heel Sports Network for that same period of time.
Simmons spent eight years as an NFL scout, working for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2009-16. He was named the Fritz Pollard Alliance’s AFC Scout of the Year in 2014. Simmons got into scouting after spending 10 years in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints. He was drafted by the Bengals in 1998 with the 17th overall pick in the first round and went on to be named to the Bengals 50th Anniversary team in 2017. Simmons finished his career with 753 tackles, 24 sacks, 55 TFL, 11 INTs, 13 forced fumbles and eight fumble recoveries.
While at UNC from 1994-97, Simmons earned Consensus First-Team All-America honors, first-team All-ACC recognition and was a two-time team captain. He finished his career as a Tar Heel with 340 tackles, which ranks ninth all-time in UNC history, 11 sacks and 34 TFL. For his exploits, Simmons was inducted into the UNC Football Ring of Honor in 1998.