We are almost ready to wrap up the year but we still have 1 interview left in the queue. Bill Evans graduated from Southern Utah in 1972 and almost a half-century later he is still going strong as head coach at Utah State Eastern. He has coached literally all over the United States, from a high school in New Orleans to a college in Alaska, and remains the winningest coach in Southern Utah history. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Evans about making the 1st NCAA tourney in school history and being named conference COY. Today is Coach Evans’ 73rd birthday so let us be the 1st to wish him a happy 1, as well as a Happy New Year!
You went to college at Southern Utah: why did you choose to go there, and how good a basketball player were you back in the day? I went there because I thought that I would have the opportunity to play…but I was a terrible player so I just sat on the bench and learned a lot. As an LDS guy I also thought that it would be a good social community for me.
You made the 2001 MCC tourney final as coach at your alma mater and watched tourney MVP Fred House score 24 PTS including a pair of late FTs in a 3-PT win over Valparaiso: how big a deal was it to win the title? Valparaiso had a lot of size and was a well-coached team who had beaten us the year before in the conference finals. Both Jeff Monaco/Fred played extremely well and it was a tremendous feeling of satisfaction to get the win. Valparaiso was the only team we could never beat on the road: it ended up turning into a really good rivalry.
What are your memories of the 2001 NCAA tourney, the 1st in school history (Monaco scored 26 PTS in a 3-PT loss to BC)? I remember how strong/physical BC was. They pressed us early, which was the cornerstone of what they did. They really struggled to make shots against our zone…but had 30 offensive REB! They made a shot towards the end of the game with the shot clock running down, and then we came down and missed a shot that would have tied it. It was a long flight home: it took us about 8-10 hours to fly back from New York.
In 2002 you were named MCC COY: what did it mean to you to win such an outstanding honor? It was a great honor: even though I am not into those things I am still appreciative of that recognition. Not to sound corny but good players make good coaches.
You remain the winningest coach in school history: what makes you such a great coach, and do you think anyone will ever break your record? I worked for some really good people. We were an Independent for about half of my tenure there. Big schools will now pay $85,000+ for guarantee games but back then they only paid about $35,000. I worked for patient administrators who understood how difficult it was for us to schedule games in January/February. It was hard to recruit kids who knew that they might not play in the NCAA tourney. My players/staff just continued to work hard and do their best so I have no regrets.
In 2008 you became an assistant coach under Wayne Tinkle at Montana: how did you like working with Wayne, and what makes him such a great coach? I was told by some of my trusted friends that I would never have to worry because I was a very employable guy…but I soon found out that was not the case. I had an opportunity to be a D-2 head coach but I held off because I wanted to stay in D-1. 1 of my assistants was going to go to Montana, but after changing his mind he told Wayne to give me a call and 1 thing led to another. Wayne’s strength is that he is very bright and a very good offensive coach. He can look at tape of an opponent’s defense and in 2 minutes figure out how to beat it, while it might take me hours and hours. He is good at keeping people united and was good about letting me give some input.
In the 2010 Big Sky tourney title game tourney MVP Anthony Johnson scored a tourney-record 42 PTS (including the last 21 PTS of the game) in a 1-PT win over Weber State to win the title: was it just a situation where every shot Johnson put up seemed to go in because he was “in the zone”? I remember at halftime when we were down by 20 PTS. We just told the team to try and cut the lead to 10 PTS with 10 minutes to go…and lo and behold I looked up with 10 minutes left and we were only down by 9! It was just 1 of those halves where the ball would not go in the doggone basket for Weber State. Johnson’s performance was unlike anything I had ever seen before: he was just amazing. If there had been 20 NBA scouts in the crowd that night then I think that he would have become a 1st round pick.
What are your memories of the 2010 NCAA tourney (Brian Qvale scored a career-high 26 PTS and had 13 REB in a 5-PT loss to New Mexico)? We defended them pretty well but had a lot of unforced turnovers. Brian was outstanding that night: he is 1 of the nicest kids I have ever coached and I knew that he was going to become a great dad/husband/citizen.
When people look back on your career, how do you want to be remembered the most? I would like to be remembered as a good dad and honest guy who worked really hard and did his best every day. I was a kind person who gave back to my coaches/players. Those things are far more important than winning games, even though wins determine if you remain coach. I really do not care if I was a good coach; rather, I care that I was a good man.
