After 37 seasons at the helm of Spring Hill College’s baseball program, Badger head coach Frank Sims has announced that 2022 will be his last on The Hill. The Alabama Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame member has decided to retire at the conclusion of this season.
“How do you put 37 years into a few sentences?” Sims said, “But it’s just time. My wife, Dana, and I have thought about this decision for both our careers for quite a while now and it’s just time. I will miss it greatly. I’ll miss the players greatly. I’ll miss all the coaches that I’ve known and made friends with over the years.
Sims became the head coach of the Badgers with just three weeks remaining in the 1985 season and has since won 938 games at the helm of the Badgers. Over his 38 years as a collegiate head coach, Sims has accumulated 974 total victories. Sims holds the record for most career victories at Spring Hill and his tenure with SHC includes 26 20-win seasons, six 30-win seasons, two 40-win seasons and five conference championships. He was inducted into the Alabama Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2017.
Spring Hill appeared in the NAIA Regional Tournament four times in his reign and Sims has been honored as a Conference Coach of the Year on five occasions with the latest time being the 2014 Independent Collegiate Athletic Association (ICAA) honor in NCAA Division II.
“When I first arrived at Spring Hill, I didn’t know if I’d stay five years,” Sims laughs. “But it’s a good quality of life here in Mobile. I’ve raised my family here. I’ve had opportunities to move on, but I’ve turned them all down because it wasn’t what I wanted at the time. I have four kids who are all SHC graduates and I’ve coached my two sons at the collegiate level. Who could ask for more?”
Before joining the Badgers in 1985, Sims was the head coach at Milton College (Wis.) where he compiled a 36-10 record and reached the NAIA Regional Tournament during the 1982 season. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at his alma mater Eastern Illinois University where he received his B.S. in Health, Physical Education and Recreation (HPER) in 1977. After a successful three-year stint as the head coach at Sparta (Ill.) High School from 1976-80, Sims became a graduate assistant coach at Morehead State University (Ky.) in 1980-81 and later completed his M.A. in HPER at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater where he served as a graduate assistant coach from 1982-85. He and his wife, Dana, have four children and six grandchildren.