"I would not recommend this coach to anyone. He consistently disrespects players’ time and fails to value academics, despite claiming otherwise. He does not understand the balance expected in a Division III environment — instead, he treats the program like Division I, but without the structure, rules, or player protections that come with it. We are rarely, if ever, allowed proper breaks. Even during our 1.5-week October break, he schedules two mandatory sessions in the middle of the day, making it impossible for players to rest, travel, or spend time with family. In games, he often makes questionable tactical decisions that negatively affect the team. He also shows clear favoritism, giving extended playing time to certain players while benching others who have proven themselves to be stronger contributors. Perhaps most concerning is the emotional and mental abuse he places on players. His approach to communication, playing time, and team management is manipulative and mentally exhausting. He frequently makes promises about playing time that he doesn’t follow through on, leaving many players anxious, confused, and demoralized. His behavior is, frankly, emotionally abusive, and it msses with players mental health. "

"As a former soccer player I find his coaching style to be incomprehensible. Tactics and strategy seem to be lacking. The team had great success in 2024 due to the skills of the women on the team despite his many shortcomings as a coach. As a result of his coaching including insane practice regime especially the day before a game players were exhausted during game play. The weight training contributed to too many injuries. "

"Constantly refers to the soccer team as "his program" and "his career/legacy" making the players just a chess peice in his life long game. Admits to not wanting to play his best 11 and that talent is not the determinent of playing time but his percieved commitment to "what he's doing" which is measure not through time, effort, and success but basically who blows smoke up is a*s. Freshmen came up to me as a senior asking why the team had not made it clear during her recruitment that no one liked the staff as they felt lied to and decieved throughout the entire recruitment process compared to the reality upon arrival. I and others began taking a removed role in talking to recruits because we too did not want to mislead them. He uses players to mess with other players heads and as a result I have had to watch poor first year get excited and starting and playing significant time in multiple games in a row and doing nothing wrong only to be subsequently benched for the next games with zero discussion because they were unaware that an older player was simple in what some refer to as "time out." If you in anyway struggle with your body as many young girls do, please do not come to a program under this man where I expressed concern for the culture around fitness that was prompting players to work out three times a day 7 days a week and asked him to step in and tell them it was excessive because they were not listening to others, only to be told that I was undermining there dedication to the program (and to no surpirse we had teammates with countless overuse injuries and people needing to take semesters off for ED recovery. I loved my time at Vassar outside of soccer but it is really telling when alumni games have had to be cancelled for three years due to no attendence and when we play the prior female team who used to be an assistant coach (Wesleyan) they want nothing to do with him and talk s**t about him to players on our team. "

"Keith Simons is a man with a fragile ego that is dependent on what 20 year old women think of him and boy does he make it obvious. If you do what he says and "buy in" to his ridiculous every changing 'tactics' and make it obvious that you like him and value his opinion, you're set. If you DARE to disagree with him about anything, voice concerns whether personal or team-based, or show any sort of divergence from his school of thought, too bad he won't care about you and he will make it painfully obvious to everyone then deny it if you ever bring it up with evidence to support it. Beyond an individual experience, this baby-man is delusional about the team which does not foster individual or team growth. He truly thinks he has a top-25 team in the country when the reality is the team is not beating anyone in the top 25. The players know it and he is lying to himself, creating an extremely unproductive practice environment. All in all, I wish my years on VCWS went differently (we faced emotional abuse and lots of manipulation), but I will say I learned to stand up for myself. ALSO, the director of athletics (Michelle Walsh) is complicit. SO many issues were brought up to her and she never did anything so much as a slap on the wrist and a cute little chat with Keith. "

"Reading the above comments about the experience that these players have had with Coach Simons makes me sad as this is exactly the experience my daughter has had with him these last 3 seasons. He has created a toxic environment, plays favorites, creates a competitive environment within the team and never encourages or coaches. "

"“When you can stop acting so emotional, come and talk to me.” -Coach Simons"

"I have a hard time putting into words the emotional torment Coach Simons put me through while I was playing under him. His genuine disregard for players mental well being, poor communication and disrespect earned him this low rating. The culture that he creates within a team is toxic, individualistic and unnecessarily competitive between teammates. "

"Keith Simons is not a respectable coach, he favors players, condones bullying and harassment of teammates by fellow teammates. Toxic coaching style that pits players against each other. "

"This coach is absolutely awful. he is the worst. creates toxic team culture and acts blind to bullying on the team. "

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