Clyde Simms: Minor League to National Team

Second of a 2-part article telling the inside story of a 2005 U.S. Men’s National Team that Almost Was. Go here to read part I, The U.S. Men’s National Team That Almost Was.

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If it wasn’t for that strike I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.
DC United’s Clyde Simms

When it was announced that the US player strike had ended, it was a disappointing time for the USL players that had to give up their chance to take the field as US National Team players. However, for Clyde Simms the end of the strike was not the end of his time at camp or the possibility of representing his country. Instead, Simms, who just finished his first season as a professional soccer player, was about to watch his soccer career take off in a matter of months.

Clyde Simms in a 2005 US Soccer training camp

If it wasn’t for his college coach at East Carolina University, Simms wouldn’t have had a career at all. “I never knew that I would play soccer after college,” confessed Simms. “I was kind of forced to go to an invitational tryout for Richmond by my college coach. I’m so thankful that he made me go.” Simms even admits that it was his coach that filled out most of the paperwork for his tryout.

Just before the 2005 player strike, Simms had finished his first season with the Richmond Kickers of the USL’s A-League. In his rookie year, Simms made 28 appearances and tallied 3 goals. His play that season earned him a spot on the player pool that was suggested to Bruce Arena when he met with the USL coaches at the NSCAA convention days before the camp was to start.

Simms’ story of when he received the call mirrored that of USL Vice President Tim Holt. Simms was in a movie theater when Richmond Kickers coach Leigh Cowlishaw called, but he ignored it until after the film had finished. When he did finally answer, Simms got the surprising news that would eventually make his career. “I didn’t really know what was going on,” explained Simms. “I just knew that I was going to be leaving in a couple of days to go to LA.”

In his travel from the East Coast to the West, Simms was also making a big move from his rookie year on a minor league team to the possibility of representing the US on the National Team. It was an honor to be chosen, but Simms wasn’t going to get too far ahead of himself. “I was just excited to be a part of it. I didn’t expect much from it,” Simms explained. “I didn’t expect to be one of the 18 guys Bruce would take.”

Despite his conservative mindset, Simms didn’t hold his play on the field to the same restrictions and before it was officially announced that the strike was over he received another unbelievable phone call.

While out to dinner with some of his Richmond teammates who were also invited to the camp, US assistant coach Glenn Myernick called Simms to invite him to stay at camp. “I thought they were doing it with a couple of the guys and I said of course,” said Simms. However, when Arena held the final meeting of the camp it was announced that Simms was the only player that was invited to continue training.

It wasn’t until the rest of the USL players left that Simms began to realize his situation and even became a little starstruck. “I had a day or two by myself and I started to get really nervous. All these guys, some I grew up watching and younger guys I had heard so much about, were coming. I was going to be training with them.” Simms was also a bit cautious about how the players would react to him staying at camp.  “I wasn’t sure how the guys were going to take it,” admitted Simms. “I mean they were holding out. I didn’t know how I was going to be viewed or looked at.” Fortunately for Simms, the MLS-based players did not label him as a “scab” and he quickly made friends.

Simms performed so well at camp that many of the MLS players began showing an interest in becoming club teammates. “Jimmy Conrad came up and asked me if I could play on the left side or right side because Kansas City was looking for an outside midfielder. That was something I didn’t really expect when all this happened.” The interest didn’t stop with Conrad; Simms was also pursued by a few players from DC United. “Ben Olsen would come up to me and the other guys would say that I should come over to their team. That’s when it kind of hit me that I would get a lot of interest from the whole situation.”

Clyde Simms is now a heading into his 7th year with DC United

Although Simms didn’t get to make it onto the field as a national team player, his play at camp was rewarded. “I remember getting a call from an agent that was close to Ben Olsen and Eddie Pope. I ended up signing with him and he got to work right away.” In a short time, Simms was informed that DC Untied had acquired his rights and was in talks with Richmond. However this last bit of his move was not as quick as the rest. “That was a frustrating time for me. The teams were having a tough time coming to terms.” Eventually the teams agreed to terms and Simms was on a plane to Hawaii to join the rest of United for pre-season training.

Simms spent much of his first season with DC playing with the reserve team, but that did not keep him off of Arena’s radar. “Bruce’s son was with DC at the time and he would come to some of the reserve games to watch him play.” Arena must have seen something in him because Simms was called up to another 2005 national team camp that consisted mainly of the European-based national team players and the players that had more at stake in the strike earlier that year, and the worry of being labeled “scab” came out once again. “There was a little more tension with those guys,” admitted Simms.

The tension eventually faded and Simms earned his first and only cap so far as a late-game substitute against England on May 28^th. In just six months, Clyde Simms went from finishing his USL rookie season to playing on the national team. “If it wasn’t for that strike I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.”