Marcello Simmons
President & CEO
Marcello Simmons is a coach, teacher, mentor and a motivator. Whether as an athlete on the field, as an executive in the boardroom or a coach on the gridiron, Marcello strives to inspire and engage those around him.
Born and raised in Tombell, Texas, this former professional football player now longs to give back and share all he’s been given throughout his career.
After graduating with a BA in advertising from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Marcello was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL draft. He played two seasons with the Bengals and in 1995, signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars before landing with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League.
Marcello spent six of his seven CFL seasons with Toronto, winning back-to-back Grey Cups (1996 and 1997) before retiring in 2002.
Having firmly established roots in Toronto and wanting to stay in football, Marcello was named the special teams coordinator for the Toronto Argos in 2003. In 2004, he went on to win another Grey Cup, this time as a coach. He led the special teams until 2008.
In 2009, he went to the Seattle Seahawks for training camp as a guest coach through the NFL’s Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship Program.
In June 2010, Marcello was announced as the defensive backs coach for the Acadia University Axemen of Atlantic University Sport (AUS) and served as the defensive backs coach for the University of Guelph Gryphons in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) conference in 2011 before moving on to coach professionally in Edmonton. He joined the Eskimos staff in January 2012 as the team’s defensive backs coach and special teams coordinator.
Marcello embodies the art of diversity. He challenges, not only himself, but others to learn and enrich their lives to the best of their ability.