Interest in Jessie

[NewsCopy]

USF turns coaching search to Louisiana-Lafayette's Evans

A week after being spurned by Purdue's Gene Keady, San Francisco's search has turned to a head coach whose team actually reached the 2004 NCAA Tournament -- Jessie Evans of Louisiana-Lafayette.

According to multiple sources, Evans has become a candidate in one of the more entertaining coaching searches of this offseason, a process that has included Keady, former USF star Bill Cartwright and Connecticut assistant Clyde Vaughan.

Now that Vaughan has withdrawn from consideration, Evans' top competition for the USF job could be the man who replaced him on Lute Olson's staff at Arizona -- Rodney Tention, a USF alum.

Evans is 132-81 in seven seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette, with three consecutive 20-win seasons and two overall appearances in the NCAA Tournament. Before that he was Olson's assistant for nine seasons. That position at Arizona went to Tention when Evans left for Louisiana-Lafayette after the Wildcats' 1997 national championship.

The source of the story

April 12, 2004
By Gregg Doyel
SportsLine.com Senior Writer

[bigearl]

Is this good news or bad news? Maybe Ricky Broussard knows something we don't and that's why he resigned from LSU. I think Ricky might become our next coach.

[1stTake]

Ricky Broussard was going to be fired and asked LSU to hold off till UL stalled long enough for Evans to find another job. A great move in my opinion.

[bigearl]

Why was Broussard going to be fired? Please don't state the obvious...Brady sucks, and firing his assistants would allow him to save face for one more year. Brady is a bum and I'm glad a person like Broussard is no longer affiliated with him... just my opinion.

[Cajun Express]

Ricky is not a candidate for anything at ULa. Geezzz I wish his friends would just stand up and be counted as friends.

[RaginRash]

Chuck the Dipdunk is BACK!

[Turbine]

I hope Jessie stays and hammers out a new contract where he has been successful, where he can really go down in history as a winner.

Louisiana

[NewsCopy]

Report: Evans candidate at San Francisco

LOUISIANA Là — CBS Sportsline reported Tuesday that Louisiana coach Jessie Evans is now a candidate for the vacant University of San Francisco head basketball position.

San Francisco athletic director Bill Hogan was quoted in Tuesday’s San Francisco Chronicle as saying that two candidates with Division I head coaching experience will be interviewed this week.

San Francisco associate sports information director Ryan McCrary said he couldn’t confirm or deny that Evans was being interviewed. Hogan did not return a phone message.

Louisiana athletic director Nelson Schexnayder said he was unaware of the story and has had no communication with any representative of San Francisco’s athletic department.

Evans finished up a three-year contract with the Cajuns in a glorious way this past season. The Cajuns won the program’s first outright league championship in 22 years and was Louisiana’s only representative in the NCAA Tournament with a 20-9 record.

Evans has accumulated a 132-81 overall record during his seven seasons at UL, including four 20-win seasons, two overall NCAA Tournament and two NIT tournament appearances. The Cajuns have won 20 games each of the last three seasons.

San Francisco originally offered the job to Purdue coach Gene Keady and Connecticut assistant Clyde Vaughan without any success.

Former USF player and current Arizona assistant coach Rodney Tention has already interviewed and Hogan confirmed Monday that he’s still a candidate. Also an existing candidate is Iowa State assistant Damon Archibald.

The position became open when Phil Mathews was fired on March 8 after leading the Dons to a 17-14 record.

San Francisco has a glorious history of basketball success going back to two national championships won with such stars as Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, as well as one NIT Tournament title in 1949, before the rise of the NCAA.

The rest of the story

Kevin Foote
kfoote@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Evans Era Over?

He's been the Ragin' Cajun basketball coach since 1997. And in the seven years that have followed, basketball fans have seen 130 victories and two NCAA tournament appearances.

But after all that success, is Jessie Evans about to say goodby" to Acadiana?

KATC's Scott Brazda reports of his imminent departure.

First, Jessie Evans rebuilt the Cajun basketball program. Then, he got them to the reloading stage.

Now "the coach" Jessie Evans is said to be one of the top candidates to take over at the University of San Francisco.

The rumor mill hoopla began earlier today with an article on cbssportsline.com by senior writer Gregg Doyel.

The headline is a cryptic one, "USF Turns Coaching Search to Louisiana-Lafayette's Evans." And although Purdue's Gene Keady turned down the San Francisco job, and names like former UCLA coach Steve Lavin and Bill Cartwright have been bounced around, Jessie Evans is said to be a serious candidate for the job.

The rest of the story

Scott Brazda
KATC

[cajunreality]

Let Jesse go to the "left coast" and we can get Rickey Broussard as our next coach. That would be a great move since he has experience in coaching in the SEC and Southland conferences!

P. S. Besides, Rickey would probably do a better job at getting and KEEPING the kids eligible!!!! As it stands now, most people would be VERY shocked if they really knew the turmoil within the BB program.

[Oldman]

thank you cajunreality, finally someone's getting the message. thank you.

[bmcollect]

What about Butch Pierre? He did a great job with the kids they has then.