Assistant coaching veteran Evans finally gets chance as head coach at Tennessee State University
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BVM) — Tywaune “Ty” Evans may not have had the title of head coach during his 17 years as an assistant coach in collegiate basketball, but that didn’t stop him from garnering plenty of attention in his roles. While he worked in such successful programs like Georgetown University, University of Alabama and Auburn University, Evans was able to learn the craft of coaching that saw him slowly come up from an assistant coach to an associate coach to now becoming the head coach of his own team.
In August, Tennessee State University announced the hiring of Evans as the head coach for its women’s basketball team. The role will be Evans’ first collegiate head coaching job and first head coaching role since a one year stint with the Ulkiken Eagles of the Norway Professional Men’s League from 2002-2003.
One could say Evans was built to be a head coach. Long before he knew what direction his life would take, a teenaged Evans and another one of his friends in his hometown of Beloit, Wis., would run football camps and clinics on weekends where they would coach some of the younger kids in the neighborhood.
“We would literally design certificates to give to them on Fridays, so I’ve been coaching even before I realized it was going to be what I’d do for my career,” Evans said.
Evans has coached numerous positions on the court during his time as an assistant including coaching point guards at Auburn while also being a post player coach at Alabama prior to his move to Auburn. During his stops in the state of Alabama, Evans’ players had many successes including coaching three Alabama players to All-SEC honors in five seasons.
Prior to his stops at the two Alabama campuses, Evans made his way through the collegiate coaching ranks first as an assistant coach at St. Louis University where he had two stints from 2001-2002 and 2003-2005 sandwiched before and after his stop with Ulkiken. While he had initially been offered to help coach a Division III collegiate men’s team, a friend made Evans aware of an opening for the St. Louis women’s team and asked if he’d be interested. Evans was more than happy to take the chance.
“He said, ‘Hey would you consider coaching women’s basketball?’ and I said ‘Absolutely! I’ll coach dolphins if they love to play. I don’t care,’” Evans said.
To Evans, basketball is a game irregardless of gender. Whether it is played between men, women, co-ed or any other form, Evans just enjoys coaching the game.
“I just love basketball,” Evans said. “I never looked at basketball as gender-specific. I’ve always respected women’s basketball players. … It’s definitely different in coaching males, but at the end of the day basketball is basketball and you just have to learn how to connect to the player.”
Following his stop at St. Louis, Evans joined the staff at Georgetown University under head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. Williams-Flournoy and Evans had an immediate connection and she would eventually bring Evans with her when she accepted the head coach position at Auburn University. Today, their relationship is just as strong.
“She’s probably one of the closest individuals to me outside of my family,” Evans said. “She’s like my big sister now. … She’s amazing. If it wasn’t for her there’s no way I’d be where I am right now. She’s probably the most instrumental person in terms of helping me be prepared for this seat right now. … I could never thank her enough for that.”
Evans has worn many hats during his time as an assistant coach helping in all facets of the program from gameplanning to recruiting. During his time as an assistant, Evans has also helped lead teams to turnarounds including coaching the Crimson Tide to a WNIT Sweet 16 appearance in 2011, the team’s first postseason trip since 2002, and helping Auburn in 2015 advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. Evans would help lead the Tigers to three NCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons.
Evans is dedicated to creating long lasting bonds with players. From the first time recruiting a player to coaching them in their final game at the school, Evans wants to be connected with the players he coaches. This has made leaving teams hard, but Evans knows that without it success won’t follow.
“The players are why you do it,” Evans said. “I had wonderful, tremendous players that I still keep in contact with to this day. There’s not a week that goes by that I’m not texting or calling a former player. … I’m a very relationship oriented guy so once I establish a relationship with you, you’re a part me. You’re a part of who I am. You’re a part of my life.”
While he made his name in coaching mostly in the south, Evans first made a name for himself as a player growing up in his home state of Wisconsin. As a member of the Beloit Memorial High School boys basketball team, Evans led the Purple Knights to the 1990 Big Eight championship. Though his basketball career both as a player and as a coach has taken Evans around the globe, he still believes his favorite moments come from his time in the Barkin Arena.
“Basketball was a huge part of the City of Beloit, it’s in the fabric so I grew up around it,” Evans said. “To this day I tell people all the time my best basketball memories were definitely in high school and it’s not even close. … All of my best memories of basketball are from Barkin Arena and I would say that to the day I die.”
Though he spent his freshman year at the University of Richmond, Evans would return to Wisconsin as a transfer to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where he would become one of the best players in program history. Evans was a two-time All-American with the Warhawks while also leading the team to the 1994 Wisconsin State University Conference championship and was named the conference’s Player of the Year and team MVP in 1993-94.
After college, Evans would play a few years overseas in professional leagues in both Norway and Taiwan. Evans was named to the All-Star Foreign Tour Team in 1996 and in 1998 he won his team’s most valuable player award in Norway. For his athletic successes, Evans would be inducted into the UW-Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Beloit Historical Society Elliott-Perring Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Throwing his hat back into the head coaching ring, Evans wants to draw from the lessons he learned in his first head coaching experience. He admitted that he accepted the job in Norway more for experience than for a full-time gig, but that experience was invaluable to Evans. Typical of a coach, Evans took notes of his own performance during his time with Ulkiken and has gone back to that notebook time and again to help improve himself as a coach.
“Throughout my tenure as an assistant coach, I would revisit that notebook,” Evans said. “I always looked at myself as a head coach no matter what role I was in. I would always picture myself making certain decisions and I think all that time preparing myself for this particular role has me ready now that I’m actually in this seat.”
At Tennessee State the goal for Evans is simple: change the culture to help win games. Winning games would give Tennessee State some more exposure which in turn would lead to more success. Evans wants the Tigers to be seen as a fierce competitor, not a pushover.
“Tennessee State is kind of the forgotten DI school in Nashville and I love that, I love that challenge,” Evans said. “I don’t even have a chip on my shoulder, I have a boulder on my shoulder. … When my tenure here is over, they will know who Tennessee State is nationally so my job here is to make sure that happens.”
While Evans may not have been a household name to collegiate women’s basketball fans during the course of his 17-year assistant coaching career, that won’t keep him from making a difference for a Tennessee State team that went 4-24 last season and has suffered five straight losing campaigns. With Evans now set as the 12th head coach in program history, the Tigers will look to for more success with their new head man.
