April 22, 2004
San Francisco, CA -- Jessie Evans, the highly successful head basketball coach of Louisiana Lafayette has been named head basketball coach at the University of San Francisco, Athletic Director Bill Hogan announced today. He has signed a multi-year contract.
"I would like to thank the members of the search committee, the administration and the athletic department staff who helped us with this decision." "He is coming off an NCAA tournament season at Louisiana Lafayette, his third 20 win season in a row. Jessie thinks that he can be successful here and he convinced us that he can." "I think that the USF program has unlimited potential," said Evans in accepting the position. "This is a great school with a great tradition in men's basketball. It is located in what is in my opinion the number one city in the world. Bill Hogan and the administration have convinced me that the school is committed to a strong athletic program. I'm excited to get started!"
Evans also helped tutor a total of 14 Arizona players that have played in the NBA, including Sean Elliott of the San Antonio Spurs, Mike Bibby of the Sacramento Kings, Jason Terry of the Atlanta Hawks, Damon Stoudamire of the Toronto Raptors, Khalid Reeves of the Dallas Mavericks and Kenny Lofton, now out of pro basketball but continuing his pro baseball career with the New York Yankees. In all, he has recruited and/or coached a total of 26 players who played in the NBA during his career.
Evans served for two seasons on the Texas staff from 1986-88 prior to going to Arizona, and previously served as assistant coach at Wyoming from 1984-86 and at San Diego State from 1982-84 after beginning his collegiate coaching career at Minnesota, where he served for five years from 1976-81. He was an all-state basketball player while playing four years with the varsity team in high school in Pontiac, Mich., at Pontiac Central before going to Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, where he played collegiately for four years before earning his bachelor's degree in 1972. He later earned his master's degree in education from EMU in 1980. Following his collegiate career, he served as player-coach with the Flint Pros in the Continental Basketball Association for one year in 1972-73, before going into coaching at Flint Northwestern High in Flint, Mich. He guided that team to a three-year record of 57-18, to a state runner-up finish in 1975 and to the 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 Western Athletic Conference 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. During his nine years at Arizona, the Wildcats won five Pac-10 titles and finished second in each of the past three seasons, while participating in nine straight NCAA Tournaments. The Wildcats were also ranked No. 1 in the nation in two different seasons in 1988-89 and 1990-91 and were ranked as high as No. 2 in 1989-90. Arizona also reached the Final Four in 1993-94 after winning the NCAA West Regional. Evans' recruiting success likely had a great deal to do with that on-court success, with his recruiting classes consistently ranking among the nation's best. His 1996 recruiting class was ranked in the top five nationally by virtually every national recruiting service. 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.
Evans' Record at Louisiana-Lafayette
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