Last updated Oct. 18, 2013
Southeast Missouri added a heap of experience to its coaching staff when it hired Jessie Evans on July 9, 2012.
Evans begins his second season at Southeast, overseeing recruiting and coaching the Redhawk post players.
This season, Evans will again coach one of the top starting frontcourts in the Ohio Valley Conference in Tyler Stone and Nino Johnson.
Stone was a Second-Team All-OVC selection and led the Redhawks in scoring, while Johnson led the team in rebounding, blocks and field goal percentage, and broke the school’s all-time single-season record in blocked shots during Evans’ first year on staff in 2012-13. Stone and Johnson combined for 16 double-doubles and 51 double-digit scoring games under Evans last season.
Evans is a former head coach at two Division I programs and has served as an assistant coach at several other notable Division I schools, including Arizona. He assisted Lute Olson for nine years, helping the Wildcats win the 1997 national title. Evans was credited with recruiting some of Arizona’s top players.
He helped mentor a total of 14 Arizona players that have played in the NBA, including Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Khalid Reeves, Chris Mills, Sean Elliott and Sean Rooks. In all, he has recruited and/or coached 26 players who played in the NBA during his career.
During his nine years at Arizona, the Wildcats won five then-Pac-10 titles and participated in nine-consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Arizona was also ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation during the 1988-89 and 1990-91 seasons, and No. 2 in 1989-90. The Wildcats reached the Final Four in 1993-94 after winning the NCAA West Regional.
As a part of the Arizona staff, Evans worked primarily with perimeter players and overall defense, while also being involved with scouting, athlete counseling and academics.
Evans’ recruiting resulted in a great deal of on-court success, with his recruiting classes consistently ranking among the nation’s best. His 1996 class was ranked in the top-five nationally by virtually every national recruiting service.
Most recently, however, Evans went 45-57 in nearly four seasons (2004-07) at the San Francisco helm. He coached just 12 games during the 2007-08 campaign before taking a leave of absence. In his last full season, the Dons tied for third in the West Coast Conference with an 8-6 record.
Prior to that, Evans won four regular-season Sun Belt Conference championships and two Sun Belt tournament titles at Louisiana-Lafayette. He compiled a 132-81 record in seven seasons (1997-2004). The Ragin’ Cajuns also made two NCAA Tournament appearances, garnered two NIT berths and won at least 20 games four times under Evans. Evans has an overall coaching record of 177-138.
In addition to Arizona, Evans also worked as an assistant at Minnesota, San Diego State, Texas and Wyoming.
Evans was an All-State basketball player, playing four years with the varstiy team at Pontiac Central High School. He attended Eastern Michigan University, where he played for four seasons before earning his bachelor’s degree in 1972 and master’s degree in 1980.
Following his collegiate career, Evans served as player-coach with the Flint Pros in the Continental Basketball Association for one year in 1972-73 before taking the head coaching position at Flint Northwestern High School. He guided that team to a three-year record of 57-18, a state runner-up finish in 1975 and a Saginaw Valley title in 1976.
In his five years at Minnesota, the Gophers averaged 20 wins per year and claimed the Big Ten title in 1981. He coached and helped recruit such notables as Kevin McHale, Mychal Thompson, Trent Tucker and Randy Breuer during that time.
Evans left Minnesota for two seasons at San Diego State, where he helped develop future NBA standout Michael Cage, and followed that with a two-year stint at Wyoming. He helped guide the Cowboys to the WAC title and to the 1986 NIT finals while coaching standouts Fennis Dembo and Eric Leckner.
He left Wyoming in 1986 to join the staff at Texas, where he coached Lance Blanks and Travis Mays, before joining the Arizona staff in April 1988 following UA’s Final Four trip that year.
Evans and his wife Nancy, a former counselor, have a daughter Jayda, a sportswriter with the Seattle Times, and a son Jarret, who played two years at Louisiana-Lafayette.
