The Johns Hopkins Department of Athletics debuted its Faculty-Coach initiative during the 2025-26 academic year. The program is designed to engage faculty members and create meaningful relationships and community between academic affairs and athletics by serving in a mentoring and supportive role of JHU's scholar-athletes.
 
Faculty Coaches will serve as honorary members of the coaching staff and act as an additional support person for scholar-athletes on the team.  They are available to answer academic questions and help direct scholar-athletes, particularly first year students, to the many resources available to all Johns Hopkins students.
 
The initial two-year commitment, which comes with an option to extend, provides the faculty member the opportunity to attend as many games and practices as their schedule allows, to watch games from the sideline/bench area, and to attend team-specific events, including end-of-year banquets and awards ceremonies.
 
Throughout the 2026-27 academic year, HopkinsSports.com will utilize a Q&A format to allow fans to learn more about a team's designated Faculty-Coach.  Today, we introduce Joshua Simon, the Faculty-Coach for the Blue Jay Women's Lacrosse Team.

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Name:  Joshua Simon
 
Faculty-Coach Team:  Women's Lacrosse
 
Alma Mater:  Reed College (BA); Yale University (PhD)
 
Position/Title at Johns Hopkins: Associate Professor of Political Science
 
Year at Johns Hopkins: 6th
 
Tell us a little about your own athletic background:  I played a lot of basketball when I was young but I didn't go far as a competitor. I grew up in Colorado, where I loved to ski. Then I discovered surfing, which became and remains my obsession. I also got into road cycling for a while, but I had a bad crash, broke my femur and couldn't ski or surf during the long recovery, so I gave it up. Now I exercise with an eye to surfing and skiing: I swim, hike and do yoga or mobility-focused resistance training.
 
What is your favorite sport: Surfing, though I don't think of it as a sport so much as a way of life.
 
How did you become involved in the Johns Hopkins Athletics Faculty-Coach program:  From what I understand, I was nominated by a student or students in one of my classes. My wife played lacrosse in high school and my daughters, who are in 6^th and 7^th grade, play lacrosse now. They all like to watch the Hopkins women's lacrosse team, so I was going to games already and I was happy to have the opportunity to get more involved with the team.
 
While the program is still in its infancy, tell us about your experience working with your team thus far: I am just trying to be a familiar face at games so that the team will feel comfortable coming to me with academic questions.
 
What has most surprised you, if anything, about working with and meeting the coaching staff and athletes on your team: I wasn't surprised, but I am always impressed with the work ethic I see from athletes both athletically and academically. It's clear to me that getting to the level they've gotten to in their sport is a reflection not only of their ability to run fast and their talent with a lacrosse stick, but their ability to manage their time and focus on the tasks in front of them, whether that be sport or school, as well as open-mindedness and willingness to learn what they can from whomever is trying to teach them something. In my experience they are also kind and good leaders and mentors to each other and to younger players they encounter. As for the coaching staff, it's been a pleasure getting to know them better, and to see the kind of professionalism and care they bring to their work. I was surprised to learn that Coach Tim McCormack is also a surfer – I hope we'll have a chance to paddle out sometime in the future. 
 
As the faculty-coach for the team, what is your goal or what do you hope to accomplish: As noted above, I just hope that by being present at games and by being a fan of the team I can be a natural and familiar point of contact for any players that want to discuss academic questions – whether those be mundane questions about which classes and what major, or more profound ones like what else can I read about this idea I encountered in class or about what's happening in the world.
 
Either since you assumed this role or before that time, what is your most memorable Johns Hopkins Athletics experience:  It was really fun watching the team as they made a deep run in the playoffs last year.
 
If you have had the opportunity to have scholar-athletes in your class (from your team or others), please describe your experience with them as students:  My experience has been that scholar-athletes are a lot like their peers in the classroom. They are universally smart. Some of them are curious and get really engaged with course materials and discussions, others maybe less so. The difference is that scholar-athletes have big time commitments to their teams, so they have to be much more careful about setting aside time for their studies, and using that time well. For the most part I've seen them succeed in that challenge, but it is a challenge. 
 
What would you tell faculty members who are not involved about this program: I try to exploit my colleagues' attachments to their own almae matres to get them out to games – even if they're cheering for the other side. Michigan alums are particularly susceptible.
 
Tell us something about yourself that not many people are aware of or that you think people would find interesting: I love my minivan. It's a 2016 Honda Odyssey.