Basketball has taken Meighan Simmons all over the globe, and the former Lady Vol is starting to ponder what may be next – while leaving all options open.

Simmons is No. 5 on the list of all-time scorers at Tennessee with 2,064 points. The 5-9 guard from Cibolo, Texas, started 127 of 143 career games and played for the late Pat Summitt from 2010-12 and Holly Warlick from 2012-14. The four players ahead of her on the scoring list are Chamique Holdsclaw, Bridgette Gordon, Candace Parker and Tamika Catchings.

After graduating from Tennessee in 2014, she played for three WNBA teams in New York, Seattle and Atlanta until 2017 and settled into an overseas career that has included Romania, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Japan, Turkey, Dubai, Italy, France, Slovakia, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, North Africa, Switzerland and Cambodia. That orange ball and a sport Simmons has loved since she was a child catapulted her on quite a journey.

“Sometimes I have to sit with myself and remember that even in times where I feel like I’m trying to figure out whether continuing to play, I have to remember that I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be able to take something that is so small but so big that’s carried me across the world,” she said in an interview with Knox TN Today.

Meighan Simmons launches a shot in Turkey (family photo)

Simmons played in Dubai last winter, returned to Tennessee in February for the alumni game and then did a short stint in Lebanon before returning to Texas. She has been training young players and researching coaching opportunities this summer and doesn’t rule out returning overseas. She also has considerable interest in player development positions.

At 32 years old, she’s still quite young while also realizing she’s played more years of basketball than she has left in the sport.

Meighan Simmons and her father, Wayne Simmons (family photo)

“It’s still there,” Simmons said. “It’s just a matter of me taking more care of my body and being smart. The older you get, you have to play a lot smarter. The ability is still there. My body is still good. Nothing’s breaking down. It’s just a matter of me choosing what I want to do.”

Simmons’ father, Wayne, is now retired from the U.S. Army, and one of her brothers, Erin, is in the U.S. Air Force. Another option for Meighan Simmons is to join the Air Force Reserve, which would also allow her to continue to play basketball. She is a true free agent without any obligations or entanglements that prevent movement.

“Now I have to really figure out what is best for me in this moment,” Simmons said.

It was Summitt who bestowed the nickname of Speedy, and it was Parker who saw Simmons play and placed a call to Summitt to recruit her. Parker, who signed with adidas after graduating from Tennessee – and is now president of adidas women’s basketball – saw Simmons in 2009 after she was selected for the Candace Parker Aces, a 12-member all-star team that was headed to Japan.

Meighan Simmons and her mother, Karolyn Simmons (family photo)

The team was part of adidas, and Parker came to an exhibition game in Los Angeles before her namesake team departed. Simmons lit up the gym, and Simmons’ mother, Karolyn, heard Parker talking to the adidas representative about her daughter. Parker also later placed a call to Summitt. While Tennessee had sent a letter to Simmons, an offer hadn’t been made yet. The rising high school senior departed for Japan accompanied by her mother and received a call from Summitt after returning home. Simmons committed a few days later.

“Candace, whether she wants to take credit for it or not, she played a big role in me being seen,” Simmons said. “Outside of that, I put the work in to make sure that even after those words, I followed suit with continuing to prove myself.”

As a freshman in 2010-11, Simmons started 36 of 37 games. But several weeks before the 2011-12 season started, Summitt released the news Aug. 23, 2011,  that shook the sport to its core. The iconic head coach had been diagnosed with early onset dementia. Summitt coached one final season. In 2016, she died on June 28, two weeks after her 64th birthday. The 2011-12 team played through an emotional season that took a toll on everyone.

“I was trying my hardest to not let it get to me, because I had so many expectations of the different things that could have happened playing under her,” Simmons said. “There was things that I wanted, things that I believe were going to happen being under her care and under her guidance, and knowing that that happened, and her having to step down, it was a lot for me.”

Holly Warlick took the helm in 2012-13 – she had taken on several head coaching duties the season before with Summitt by her side – and Simmons would hug Summitt, who was now sitting in the stands, before every home game.

Meighan Simmons directs the offense at Tennessee. (UT Athletics)

“Going into the next season, it was still difficult, because Holly was stepping into that coaching position with the same mindset, the same attitude but completely different people,” Simmons said. “The way that I played my mentality never changed. It was just difficult there was a piece of it that was just missing. But we still got through it. We still had a great season.”

That team won the SEC regular season and reached the Elite Eight in Oklahoma City before falling to Louisville. The Lady Vols wiped out a double-digit deficit and pulled within two points in the second half.

“That was one of those games where you have it in your grip, and it slips through your fingers,” Simmons said. “It was a game that I think that we shouldn’t have lost, but a lot of things tied into what was going on, the mental stability of the team, trying to push through and play. And it was a lot. It was definitely mentally a lot.”

Simmons made a couple trips back to Knoxville after graduating, including in Kellie Harper’s first season in 2019-20 in between overseas stints.

She also took part in alumni night in 2024 after finishing play in Dubai and before going to Lebanon. Alums from multiple decades attended, including Parker.

“The feeling was very nostalgic,” Simmons said. “It just brought back so many different memories of the fans at the game and to experience the fans again. Seeing Candace was very refreshing. I will admit it was hard for me to come back knowing that Pat was no longer there, and I struggled with that for a little while. But it was a different level of peace that I had knowing that her energy still flows through that arena and through Pratt Pavilion. It was an amazing feeling to be back.”

Simmons also wants to visit this season – her eventual schedule and destination will determine when – to meet the new Lady Vols basketball coach, Kim Caldwell.

“I would definitely want to come back, feel the vibe and see how everything is now,” Simmons said.

She still keeps up with former Lady Vols, such as Parker, and especially her former teammates, including Cierra Burdick, Ariel Massengale, Izzy Harrison, Jordan Reynolds, Mercedes Russell and Kamiko Williams. She  also stays connected to Steele High School in Cibolo, where her basketball dreams would launch her to Tennessee and well beyond.

Tennessee will always have her heart.

“Getting crowds involved in the game, traveling with the team, experiencing a camaraderie that is kind difficult to explain, because even on days where we challenged each other, there was still a love and energy that stayed consistent,” Simmons said. “Having that energy, the love, the joy, those are just some of my fondest memories. And seeing Pat in her element and seeing her class, just watching the way that she moved.

“Everything about my four years is something that I will always remember and I will never forget. Ever.”

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press.