Jessie Evans (born October 24, 1950)
Teams coached: Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns, San Francisco Dons
Lousiana-Lafayette record: 118-80 (.596) **
San Francisco record: 45-57 (.441)
Overall record: 163-137 (.543) **
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1 (2000) **
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 3 (2002, 2003, 2005)
- Sun Belt Regular Season Champion: 3 (2000, 2002, 2003) **
- Sun Belt Tournament Champion: 1 (2000) **
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
2012-2014 | Southeast Missouri State (asst) |
2004-2007 | San Francisco |
1997-2004 | Louisiana-Lafayette |
1988-1997 | Arizona (asst) |
1986-1988 | Texas (asst) |
1984-1986 | Wyoming (asst) |
1982-1984 | San Diego State (asst) |
1976-1981 | Minnesota (asst) |
Jessie Evans Facts
- Jessie Evans
- Born October 24, 1950
- Hometown: Lebanon, Tennessee
- Alma Mater: Eastern Michigan University (BA, 1972 & MA, 1980)
- Born in Tennessee and raised in Michigan, Evans graduated from Pontiac Central HS (MI)
- Played at Eastern Michigan – during its NAIA and NCAA D-II era – for four seasons under head coach Jim Dutcher
- Was part of the 1971 Eagles’ team that finished Runner-Up in the NAIA Tournament
- Started out as a player/coach with the Flint Pros of the CBA, then spent two years as head coach at Flint Northwestern HS (MI)
- Hired by Dutcher to be an assistant coach at Minnesota, working with the Gophers for five seasons
- Spent two years each as an assistant at San Diego State (under Smokey Gaines), Wyoming (under Jim Brandenburg) and Texas (under Bob Weltlich)
- Joined Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson‘s staff at Arizona in 1988, becoming a key recruiter for the Wildcats program that would go on to win the NCAA National Championship in 1997 (Evans’ last season there)
- Recruited and coached a number of future NBA players, including Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire and Sean Elliott
- Hired as the head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette in 1997 and led the Ragin’ Cajuns for the next seven seasons
- Went 132-81 overall (officially 118-80), with four Sun Belt titles, two NITs and two NCAA Tournament bids
- 14 wins from the 2003-04 season, the 2004 Sun Belt title, Sun Belt Tournament crown and NCAAT appearance were vacated by the school after the NCAA found that an academically-ineligible player had participated
- Evans left Louisiana for San Francisco in 2004, coaching the Dons for three and a half seasons
- After going 17-14 and reaching the NIT in year one, USF finished below .500 in two-straight seasons
- Evans was fired 12 games into the 2007-08 season (4-8 record) and was replaced by future Hall-of-Famer Eddie Sutton
- After several years away, Evans returned to the college game in 2012 and spent two seasons on Dickey Nutt‘s staff at SE Missouri State
Jessie Evans Coaching Tree
- Bobby Champagne (North Alabama)
- David Patrick (Sacramento State, UC Riverside)
** Listed records and accomplishments for this coach do not include wins or appearances later vacated by the NCAA