ELIZABETH KUHLMANN, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWE
Prep2Prep Student Contributor

October 22, 2013

Growing up in the small town of Smith Center, Kansas, 10-year NFL veteran Mark Simoneau said everything revolved around the high school football team. At the age of 13, all he wanted to do was to follow in his brother’s footsteps and become a Redman football player. Little did Simoneau know, this goal would turn into a passion that would take his game to the highest level.

As a youth, Simoneau played a variety of sports other than football including baseball, track and basketball. While he played football the longest, Simoneau said he was never able to distribute any favoritism to a specific sport as he enjoyed different characteristics of each game.

“I can’t even remember my first memory of playing football,” Simoneau said. “I was very young, and some of my first memories revolve around the sport. For as long as I can remember, football was always there.”

When Simoneau entered his freshman year at Smith Center High School, he fell under the instruction of head coach Roger Barta. As an underclassman, Simoneau played running back and defensive end. His freshman year was a developmental year where he began working his way up the pecking order. As a sophomore, Simoneau was given the opportunity to step onto the field during a few varsity games and receive the occasional touch at running back. However, his junior and senior year, Simoneau’s role on the team changed drastically.

“I switched to linebacker my senior year,” Simoneau said. “As a linebacker, I got to make more plays because I was off the ball … I played both offense and defense, so I never really left the game. That was pretty standard for my junior and senior year. I got used to never coming off the field.”

While Simoneau was not heavily recruited by college coaches, he was pursued by Jim Leavitt, the linebacker coach at Kansas State University (KSU). According to Simoneau, because his brother played at KSU his senior year, the football staff was familiar with him, and he believes this helped him get his foot in the door at the university.

Simoneau decided on a social science major, and as he made the transition from high school to college, he struggled juggling schoolwork and football. The team never took a break from football, and even during the off-season workouts and team activities plagued most of Simoneau’s time.

“It forces you to be organized with what you’re doing because there is no free time to do anything else,” Simoneau said.

Simoneau made the decision to redshirt his freshman year, and was coached by Bill Snyder and three separate linebacker coaches. Leavitt, Brent Venables, and Jim Gush all trained him while he was involved in the football program, each for only one or two years before leaving KSU.

“I think it is good in some ways as a player to have different coaches,” Simoneau said. “You take the things you learn from certain coaches and you apply them in real life. When you get a new coach, they try to teach you different things, and then you can use those things. It’s good because maybe what one coach wasn’t seeing one year, another saw a year later, and they make you a better player.”

The five years Simoneau participated in the program, KSU was making a comeback from a dismal performance a few years prior. Simoneau recalls beating Syracuse and the University of Nebraska in 1988 as two of his favorite games since both were big upsets.

Not only did the team play well while Simoneau was there, but he also experienced personal success. At the end of his college career, Simoneau had registered 400 tackles and was recognized as first-team All American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the year. This past December, he became only the second KSU athlete in history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

“I was blown away,” said Simoneau when informed of his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. “There really weren’t words to describe it. Anytime you put a lot of work in and you’re recognized, it feels great. I owe it to all my coaches, the defensive line and coordinators, and anyone who has given me an opportunity to improve. Winning the award brought back the memories of playing at KSU, and to be able to go all those years later and think back to those times makes winning the award special.”

At the end of his freshman year at KSU, NFL managers and coaches began to discuss Simoneau and watch his tapes. This was his first big hint that playing in the NFL could be a possibility. Once he graduated, Simoneau described his first few months preparing for the NFL as a whirlwind. After participating in the Senior Bowl, he headed off to the NFL combine and the pro day workout before the draft day finally arrived.

“It’s a recruiting process really,” Simoneau said. “There are just a lot more activities involved in it than just playing a game. All these things are occurring at once, and the next thing you know you’re meeting these coaches and general managers and they’re interviewing you and analyzing you. It’s a lot of stuff in a short period of time … I think I handled it well. Coach Snyder’s program did a great job of preparing me.”

The Atlanta Falcons picked Simoneau in the third round of the draft. Atlanta already had two middle linebackers, so Simoneau said he was surprised by the pick because he did not believe a third was necessary. However, the organization threw him a curveball as he was informed he would no longer be playing at the middle linebacker position, but at the Sam (outside) linebacker instead.

“That was a transition, and maybe some adversity too,” Simoneau said. “I had something I had done my whole life and something I was comfortable with doing, but I wasn’t able to do it. I could only watch what my teammates were doing and I had to try to learn something new. That was a process I had to go through.”

Despite being under Dan Reeves, a successful Hall of Fame coach, Simoneau said the team struggled in their first two years. This was the most difficult year for him because Simoneau was not used to losing consecutively. The second year there was improvement, and by his third year, the team made the playoffs with a win over Green Bay. While many positive things happened with the Falcons, it was the first time Simoneau had to deal with losing in his football career.

Playing in the NFL was not the only thing that changed in Simoneau’s life while he was with the Falcons. He also met his wife in Atlanta, and went on to marry her in 2003.

“It wasn’t hard to have a family and play NFL,” Simoneau said. “With baseball and basketball, there is a lot more moving around. But for football, you might leave for a two-day trip to go play somebody, but typically you’re at home. It’s not a big issue.”

In 2003, Simoneau was traded to the Eagles and put under the instruction of head coach Andy Reid. Simoneau had wanted this trade to happen, and he said he felt it was the best thing for his career at that point. The Eagles were successful in his first few years with them, winning an NFC title in ’03 and taking a trip to the Super Bowl in ’04. Simoneau also experienced personal success when he scored his first NFL points with the Eagles off an extra point after a touchdown.

“It was bizarre,” Simoneau said. “Something you would never think would happen. And then just like that, it happened. ‘OK, go out there and kick it.’ And then it was done. You know? It was one of those crazy deals.”

Simoneau ended his time as an Eagle when he was traded to the New Orleans Saints in 2006. This trade was not by choice, Simoneau said, and within 24 hours of being informed, he had to be in New Orleans practicing for their upcoming game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“It was a whirlwind of things happening in a short period of time,” Simoneau said. “And it was totally unexpected. So there was some adversity there, because I was comfortable with where I was and as a part of that team and organization, and the next second it was over. And I had to move onto something else.”

His first few years with Sean Payton and the Saints were some of the best years Simoneau played. However, 2008 marked the beginning of a very painful path for Simoneau when he injured his back in training camp. While he did not think much of it at the time, there were nerve problems that resulted in a surgery. While benched because of his back, Simoneau also had a hip surgery. After rehabbing for a year, he attempted a comeback and prepared for training camp. Just days into the season, he tore his triceps muscle and was informed he would be benched again due to the injury.

“It was disappointing because I felt like 2007 had been one of the best years I’d ever had playing, and everything was going in the right direction,” Simoneau said. “Unfortunately, the game of football, especially the NFL, it takes its toll on your body and sometimes you just can’t handle it anymore.”

The Saints released Simoneau the spring of 2009 before the off-season was to start. At this point, he believed himself to be finished with football. After being injured for the past two seasons, Simoneau said his body was not recovering the way is needed to recover. However, in 2010 when he was almost healed, the Chiefs signed Simoneau. He eagerly accepted the proposal, and said it felt like a second chance.

The Chiefs began easing him back into training with extra practices and one on one session. Simoneau only played on game in Arrowhead before he sustained yet another injury, this time to his neck. He was then encouraged to retire from the league, and on November 18, 2010, Simoneau walked away from the game.

“It’s tough,” Simoneau said. “It’s something you’ve been doing since a young age and pretty much everything you have ever prepared for is getting ready to play a game of football. When you don’t have that to point all your energy into, there’s kind of a void left where that energy was. So it’s focusing on how to redirect that energy, otherwise you go crazy. There’s that point where you don’t know what to do and you’re trying to fill that competitiveness. There’s so many things that you get out of playing that sport that you can’t really get anywhere else.”

There are many aspects of the game Simoneau said he misses, but the camaraderie of the team is something he will be unable to duplicate anywhere else. Over 50 athletes are united by one goal, and achieving it together makes the team closer. Simoneau also said he misses the atmosphere of game days, and how he was able to transform into a different person and leave everything on the field.

Within six months of his retirement from the NFL, Simoneau’s Sports Performance business sprang to life. Putting all his energy into developing the gym was the outlet he needed, and it provided a way for Simoneau to be around athletics.

“I like to see the kids learn how to work, and then for them to see the benefit and the result of that hard work,” Simoneau said. “That’s probably my favorite part. Them seeing, the light turning on and seeing, what positive things come out of what they’re putting in. I really enjoy that process.”

While Simoneau is happy to have a large building and location, he is not interested in expanding his business, claiming his desire is to work with the athletes and have an impact. However, running a business does take its toll and the hours dock the time he spends with his family

“[The] bad part would be the hours,” Simoneau said. “It can become a lot of time that is invested. It’s making sure I enjoy the time I spend with my family and spending time with my daughters and those types of things. I think anybody who has a job or something is always torn between needing a job and wanting to be successful, and wanting to spend time with family. That’s the negative, balancing that out.”

Simoneau has learned many things through his athletic career, and said he hopes to pass these lessons on to the athletes he trains. According to Simoneau, the biggest concept someone learns through sports is how to deal with successes and failures. In order to achieve the level of success he has had as a professional, Simoneau said not to underestimate the value of hard work and determination.

“You have to work tremendously hard [to play a sport professionally],” Simoneau said. “You have to stay focused on the goal. You have to do the right thing as far as a player, being able to be trusted to execute a play the way it needs to be executed and being able to make the plays you need to be able to make and doing the exceptional things too.

"The bottom line is that you have to work so, so hard. There are people who work so incredibly hard but still don’t get the opportunity. So when you have the opportunity you have to take advantage of it. But in the end, if that’s your desire and that’s what you’re passionate about in your heart, then you have to give everything you’ve got to get it there. “