Scott Simer has always had a love for the game of baseball and a competitive fire that runs deep.

The new head coach of the Artesia Lady Dog softball team said that his love for the game of baseball, as well as his many years of being around the sport makes his new job a good fit for him.

"Baseball has always been my first love," said the coach. "And to me, softball is just an extension of that. You have a round bat and a round ball and you have to hit it squarely."

A 1989 graduate of Artesia High, Simer played baseball, football and track and he also went on to play baseball in college while at the College of the Southwest and at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

He has since returned to the City of Champions, where he has been an assistant coach for the Artesia Bulldog baseball and basketball teams and an athletics coach at Artesia Intermediate.

"When I came back to Artesia, I wasn’t even planning to coach anything," said Simer. "I just wanted to teach and take a break from sports."

That feeling wouldn’t last long though, and before long Simer found himself accepting coaching positions within the Artesia schools.

When Barry Chambers was hired as Deming High School’s head football coach, it left an opening on then-coach Dale Bohannon’s Bulldog baseball staff.

Simer quickly accepted the position when offered, and has since become the assistant varsity coach for the Bulldog basketball team as well. He also is a scout for the Bulldog football team.

"I just couldn’t stay away from sports," said Simer. "It calls you back."

When Clendon Kirkpatrick resigned as the Lady Dog softball coach, Simer saw the opening as a big step up in his career and put his hat in the ring.

"It’s a very successful program that continues to challenge year after year," he said. "You’d have to be crazy to not try for it, because it’s a big step for a coach — being a head coach. That’s what you work for."

Although he comes into his first season as head softball coach with "nervous excitement," Simer said that he hopes that his competitive fire will fit into that of his new team’s.

"I get fired up about games and competing," he said. "I always tell my players that I’d love to play just one more game so maybe they’ll see how important it is to give everything you have while your still playing. That’s what is fun about coaching, the competition and seeing how kids respond to challenges."

Simer has some challenges of his own to take care of — namely continuing the winning tradition that is Lady Dog softball.

"That’s where the nervous comes in," he said. "I’m really excited about inheriting such a solid team, but with that comes expectations. This team is right in the thick of it every year, and the town, their school and themselves expect to be there fighting for a title.

"I fully expect us to win — without a doubt," he continued. "The goal for this team is to win state every year and that goal isn’t going to change. Everyone is starting off with a clean slate — starting new — but we still expect to win."

Any coach’s wife can attest to the stress and strain that the long hours that go along with coaching can put on a marriage, but Simer said he couldn’t do it without the support of his college sweetheart, wife Monica.

"She’s just so supportive of everything I do," he said. "Whatever happens, she’ll be there backing me up. I’m always gone during the school year, and she accepts it and supports me the whole way. She’s just as excited about the job as I am."

After Simer fulfilled another childhood dream this weekend, buying a Harley Davidson V-Rod. Monica has had to deal with not seeing much of him over the past few days either.

"I just got it Saturday, and I’ve already put more than 200 miles on it," he said with a big grin. "Of course you have to go through the steps to break it in after you get it so that’s why I haven’t been around much."

Simer has lots of family that is also happy to see him take the step up in the coaching ranks, particularly his nieces who play softball in the Artesia Girls Softball Association and plan to be Lady Dog softball players in the future.

"That’s something else I am really looking forward to, the chance to coach my nieces in a few years," he said. "I’ve been watching them play from the start and it would be neat if I could coach them in high school."

For a guy who wasn’t planning to coach at all, it seems as if he might just continue to coach throughout his teaching career.