BY NOAH GRIFFITH FOR THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA —
About two months after Brady Campbell became the first male to win a 7A State Championship at Opelika in February, Opelika hired a new wrestling coach in Lee Simpson.
Campbell, who was just a sophomore last season, has two more years as a Bulldog. Simpson will have the task of getting him, as well as the other seven guys he’ll have who competed in the state tournament last year, back for a chance to repeat. And he said he likes what he sees in his team for the upcoming season and hopes to have even more make it to state this season.
“They qualified nine for state last year and eight of them are returning,” Simpson said. “That’s a pretty strong lineup with eight guys that qualified for state out of a 14-person lineup. [We are] hoping to continue that. Hopefully those eight qualify for state again and then we can continue to push more and eventually get the full lineup in there.”
Bringing in 11 years of coaching experience, Simpson is just what Opelika was looking for to take this program to the next level, according to Athletic Director Jamie Williams.
A lifer and graduate at Smiths Station High School, Simpson has been around the Lee County area for a long time. He was a part of the Panthers’ first ever wrestling team, and after graduation, as he has been a community coach in Russell County, as well as being head coach at Central Phenix-City, Shaw in Columbus, Georgia, and most recently, Hardaway in Columbus.
Simpson will coach boys and girls wrestling at both the varsity and junior varsity levels in addition to teaching health at the high school in his first year in 7A. While he is dealing with deeper rosters on both sides of the mat this season after coaching in 4A at Hardaway, his approach will stay the same.
“I’ve coached All-Americans,” Simpson said. “I’ve coached state champs. I’ve coached state finalists, placers and qualifiers, but when it all comes down to it, the main thing is trying to set people up to succeed not only on the mat but off the mat as well. The goal behind everything I do is to set people up to succeed when they leave high school.”
In order to set his players up for future success, one of Simpson’s main priorities is building a team culture built around hard work. Some qualities that he aspires to teach are perseverance, integrity, grit and determination. According to Simpson, those skills transfer into any situation the players encounter after high school.
While Simpson wants the lessons he teaches to go beyond wrestling, they are all tools that will bolster Opelika wrestling and help it continue to climb the ladder.
“I’m a big fan of kids working hard, and the harder they work, the harder I have to work,” Simpson said. “I don’t look at the success of a season based off wins and losses; I look at the success of a season a couple years down the road when people come back and tell me all the things that they were able to do because of what we were doing. By default, you end up with a pretty good wrestling team.”