When 2018 alumnus Jacob Simon chose to attend Seton Hall as a student-athlete in 2014, one of the biggest factors in his decision was communication.
“[Former head coach John Moon] wasn’t good with phone, he wasn’t good with text, but I believe I got a handwritten letter from him,” Simon said. “I think that really hit for me [that] the coach reached out personally.”
This past year, Moon retired after a 53-year-long career coaching SHU’s cross country and track programs. In May, SHU’s Director of Athletics, Bryan Felt, announced Simon as Moon’s successor.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jacob, his wife Isabella—also a Seton Hall cross country alum—and their children home to Seton Hall,” Felt said in a university-issued press release. “Throughout the interview process, [Simon] exhibited a coaching style and philosophy that aligns perfectly with our student-athlete-centric vision here at Seton Hall.”
Ahead of the announcement, Simon said he had several friends and his wife encouraging him to pursue the position.
“When Coach Moon announced his retirement, I had my phone blow up from a lot of friends saying, ‘Hey, you gonna go for it?” Simon said. “Coach Moon told me I was his guy and he wanted me to be here as well, so when my wife and I talked about it, we were like, ‘You’re gonna regret it if you don’t at least try.’”
Once he got the offer, Simon said the decision was an easy one, and that he has absolutely no plans of leaving any time soon—an encouraging thing for a coach to say in only his first season as such.
“I don’t really see myself going anywhere else in the near future,” he said. “We’re trying to buy a house and really settle our family here.”
Simon said that SHU is “home” and that his wife says he is “much happier here” because of the pride he has as an alumnus.
As mentioned, communication—which was so vital in connecting Simon with SHU in the beginning—is the first of the “four C’s” he considers most important to team sports.
The second of these four “C’s” is competitiveness—a concept Simon is no stranger to.
Before returning to SHU, Simon had coaching stints at multiple universities, the longest of which was at the University of Florida from 2021 to 2024.
During his time as an assistant coach, the team won four national championships, including the 2022 NCAA Women’s Indoor and Outdoor titles as well as the 2022 and 2023 NCAA Men’s Outdoor titles.
“Coach Holloway has his four ‘D’s,’” he said of Florida Head Coach Mike Holloway, not SHU men’s basketball head coach Shaheen Holloway. “That’s something I brought from him.”
Since returning to SHU, Simon has already helped the team get back to winning ways.
On Oct. 11, the men’s cross country team earned their first win of the season and their first ever Metropolitan Championship title. The women’s team also finished in second, trailing first place by just two points.
After the win, Coach Simon is focused on maintaining the team’s momentum—which is why he highlights the importance of consistency, the third of his four “C’s.”
“The biggest thing is keeping everyone healthy,” he said of his plans for the rest of the season. “[And in the] BIG EAST, kind of laying a new foundation, a new standard— I just want to keep on rising in the rankings there.”
Simon also said that he wants the team to be able to crack the top 20 at this year’s regionals and the top 15 at next year’s to build recognition in the region.
Simon praised the team he inherited from Moon, saying they have all been “ready to work” since he got here.
“I really wanted to hit the ground running,” he said of his first few months as coach. “The kids have really bought in from day one when I started working with them in June.”
He says he uses sophomore Aakash Arumugam as an example of the mindset he wants his athletes to have.
“[Aakash] is just one of those guys, from day one, who doesn’t ask questions—he just says, ‘Yes, Coach,’ puts his head down, and the results show,” Simon said. “That’s why I tell the other guys to use ‘Kash’ as an example.”
Simon emphasizes the importance of this mindset because of how it has paid off for Arumugam: the sophomore not only placed second at the Metropolitan Championship but was also awarded BIG EAST Male Athlete of the Week.
He also shared the “trust the grind” philosophy that he hopes to instill in his athletes this season.
“When you get so fixated on, ‘I gotta do this,’ [or,] ‘I have to run these times’—no,” Simon said. “Just do the process and the times and the results will come.”
This philosophy is part of the final of his four “C’s”: culture.
“There’s a turn of culture here,” Simon said. “There’s a turn of a page from where this program used to be and where we can be now.”
“All of the resources we have are for making us the best aerobic team possible, so we’re not gonna be so focused on the past track success,” he said. “So I say we're kinda doing a bit of a restart.”
Simon also discussed the culture of SHU, emphasizing the school’s “Open Hearts, Open Doors” initiative, with the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception being open 24/7.
He said that spiritual health was just as important as physical and mental health, no matter what you believe in, and that being “in tune” with all three of those things makes people better students and athletes.
With the four “C’s” of communication, competitiveness, consistency, and culture, Simon hopes to bring SHU’s cross country and track program back to its former glory.
Ace Crawford is a waiter for The Setonian’s Sports Section. They can be reached at grace.crawford@student.shu.edu.
