JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Southern State has dismissed coach Jeff Sims, who was coach at Garden City (Kansas) Community College in 2018 when a 19-year-old football player died of heat stroke.

Athletic director Jared Bruggeman announced Sims' firing on Wednesday but did not give a reason. Sims was in his second year at Missouri Southern but the team did not play this season because of the coronavirus pandemic. They went 2-9 in his first season, ending with a three-game skid.

Sims said he didn't know the reason for his firing but noted Missouri Southern hired a new president, Dean Van Galen, t...