Evans departing? !!!

[NewsCopy]

Reports claim Evans headed to San Francisco.

LOUISIANA Là - The year was 1997, and Louisiana Athletic Director Nelson Schexnayder had just introduced Arizona assistant coach Jessie Evans as the successor to Marty Fletcher as UL’s new men’s basketball coach.

A fan suggested to Schexnayder that if Evans was as good as advertised — Evans was coming from a national champion Wildcats program — then the Cajuns might not be able to hang on to him for too long.

Schexnayder agreed, but noted that such a development would mean that Evans — and, therefore, the Cajuns — would be successful.

One four-year contract and a three-year extension later, Evans has a 132-81 record as a head coach, and the Cajuns have been to the postseason four of the last five years including a pair of Sun Belt Conference titles and trips to the NCAA Tournament.

The 2003-2004 Cajuns were 20-9, their third straight 20-win campaign, and lost to North Carolina State in NCAA Regional action.

But Evans’ UL contract runs out in June, and he may be on the verge of accepting the head coaching job at the University of San Francisco.

Evans has interviewed with USF Athletic Director Bill Hogan, and published reports in the bay area place Evans as the top choice to revive the Dons’ fortunes.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

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USF finds the man it wants Evans to be Dons' coach

Jessie Evans, following a successful seven-year stint at Louisiana-Lafayette, apparently has been chosen as the coach charged with leading USF basketball back to its glory days.

After a six-week search, Evans has emerged as the likely successor to Phil Mathews.

When Mathews was fired March 8, USF athletic director Bill Hogan said he wanted the team to consistently record 20-win seasons and be a regular participant in the postseason.

Evans, whose Ragin' Cajuns have gone 132-81 overall, earned four 20-win seasons -- including the past three in a row -- and appeared in two NCAAs and two NITs in the past five years, apparently fits the bill.

An announcement is expected this week, although Hogan wouldn't confirm the hire or offer any details.

"We're very close," he said Tuesday.

Evans' current contract expires this year. He made $170,000 a year at Lafayette. The USF base salary is thought to be $200,000-plus. Evans, who was in San Francisco last week meeting with Hogan and other officials, wouldn't confirm the deal.

"I've been out and I've seen the campus," he said by phone from Louisiana. "I'm very familiar with San Francisco and I know Bill. That's enough for me. ... I was very impressed with what I saw and the direction they're going and what they're ready to do."

At the same time, Evans noted that his "best team" was coming back at Lafayette next season. The Ragin' Cajuns were 20-9 in 2003-04, ending their season with a 61-52, first-round loss to North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament.

Still, Evans stressed his attraction to USF.

"It's the classiness of the program, the area, the school itself, the history," he said.

Evans has West Coast connections. He was an assistant at San Diego State for two years and at Arizona for nine years, during a span when the Wildcats won five Pac-10 titles.

"The Bay Area was always my favorite road trip," he said.

A daughter, Jayda Evans, is a sportswriter with the Seattle Times.

Evans first had a four-year contract at Lafayette, then signed a new three-year deal. Negotiations were to begin on another contract. He leaves on good terms.

At Lafayette, an open-enrolment school, he sometimes signed players who were at-risk academically. This past fall semester there were questions about the academic qualifications of five players. Four of them eventually became eligible and played.

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Bruce Adams, Chronicle Staff Writer
badams@sfchronicle.com

[NewsCopy]

Around 6:00 PM Tuesday, we made the call to the San Francisco Chronicle Newspaper and received confirmation that "yes," the San Francisco based paper will run a story concerning University of Louisiana Head Basketball Coach Jessie Evans verbally committing to be the next head basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.

If the report rings true, Jessie Evans will be leaving his mark on this Cajun basketball program, no doubt.

This year was season number 7 for coach Evans, and what a year it was.

KATC
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[bigearl]

GOOD RIDANNCE!!!