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LUCAS AT LARGE know about it. "I ran into a lot of people who read me the riot act,'' he said. "They were willing to support me. But I was the one who kind of pulled away from them.'' There was a reckoning point where Sims finally reached out and reconnected "with all those impactful folks in Madison who had a great hand in shaping and molding me.'' People like Allan Zussman, Jerry Fishbain and Terry Murawski. His former D-line coach, Arnold Jeter, was another. "A lot of people helped me along the way when things weren't going well,'' Sims said. "They tried to get me pointed in the right direction.'' And they succeeded. Sims, after all, had time on his side; time to get back on track, which he did. So he jumped at the chance to coach football, even if it was for an indoor team in Green Bay. One thing led to another and through his connections he then joined the UW-Oshkosh staff as a part-time assistant in 1998. That's when he got involved with some fund-raising, too. As such, he played a role on a development team that raised $10.5 million for the Oshkosh Sports Complex. It was during this pivotal time of self-discov- ery that Sims began living up to some revised expectations. That was especially true aca- demically. In addition to taking advantage of multiple summer coaching internships with NFL teams, he went back to the class- 8 » VARSITY JULY 26, 2012 room and got his under graduate degree in speech communica- tions and his master's in educa- tional leadership from Oshkosh. "My parents used to talk about how they were disappointed when I left Madison to pursue my pro career without hav- ing my degree,'' he said. "They passed away by the time I came back to school. But education is something that I talk about at great length with our student- athletes.'' Because he was still driven by his coaching passion, Dar- ryl Sims and his wife, Carla, traveled extensively due to his association with NFL Europe every spring. One of his connec- tions was former UW defensive coordinator Jim Hilles. In 2005, Sims took over as the head coach of the Cologne Centurions. A year later, he was back in the NFL as the defensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders. But it was short-lived. The Raid- ers cleaned house, fired Art Shell and hired Lane Kiffin. Sims sub- sequently returned to UW-Osh- kosh as an assistant to athletic director Allen Ackerman. In 2010, Ackerman retired and Sims was named as his re- placement. "I applied for the job — me and 128 other people — and they offered it to me,'' Sims said. "Going into my second year now, I've really enjoyed working with the student-athletes here. "Our kids get involved with intercollegiate athletics for all the right reasons. We also have a solid group of folks who believe in the direction that we want to take the department.'' Sims has stayed in touch with some of his former Wisconsin teammates; most recently he was on the phone with Gary Ellerson, a hard-nosed tailback. "We were talking about how we thought the Badgers were going to do this season,'' Sims said. But the conversation quickly switched to the Oshkosh Titans. "We need to beat Whitewa- ter,'' he said emphatically of the Warhawks, who have won three straight D-III national titles and 45 consecutive games. "It's just that simple.'' His priorities sound in order and life is good again for Darryl Sims.