Aiden Konold ’26
Chief Sports Editor
Last Monday, April 13, former Holy Cross men’s basketball standout and assistant coach, RJ Evans, was named the new head men’s basketball coach at Division II, American International College (AIC) in Springfield.
Evans most recently served as an assistant coach at Northern Kentucky University, where he worked for the past two seasons. Over Evan’s two seasons in Highland Heights, the Norse went 37-30. This past season, under Evans’ leadership as co-defensive coordinator, Northern Kentucky was the top team in the Horizon League in KenPom Defensive Efficiency at 108.6.
“Probably him [current Northern Kentucky men’s basketball head coach, Darrin Horn] and [former Holy Cross men’s basketball head coach] Brett Nelson prepared me to be a head coach more than any of the other stops that I’ve had because of the role that they put me in, because they trusted me,” Evans said. “Coach Horn put me in charge of the wings, I ran all of our baseline out of bounds (BLOB) plays, and I was a co-defensive coordinator, and he’s a coach where he’s not micromanaging you. He gives you a task and expects you to get it done, get it done in your own way, kind of figure yourself out.”
Over the course of his wide-spanning career, the 35-year old Evans has established himself as one of the premier defensive minds in the game. But his journey began during his time as a member of the Holy Cross men’s basketball team in 2009. Following a freshman year in which he averaged 13.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 1.6 assists in 25 starts and 32 total games played, Evans was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Year.
By the time Evans graduated from Holy Cross in 2012 with his bachelor’s degree in economics, he had accrued 1,200 points, 477 rebounds, 214 assists, and 130 steals. Evans was named a team captain going into his senior season, and by the time his senior season came to a close, he ranked 28th on the Holy Cross all-time scoring list.
Evans was held to just eight games in his true junior season, so as his Holy Cross career winded down, he decided to pursue his fifth-year of eligibility and continue his playing career at the University of Connecticut (UConn) under then-head coach and AIC alum, Jim Calhoun.
In 2013, Evans earned his master’s degree in educational psychology from UConn, and pursued a professional playing career in London for the Durham Wildcats of the British Basketball League. While playing for the Wildcats, Evans also worked on completing his postgraduate diploma in management with a focus on international business at nearby Durham University.
Upon returning to the United States, Evans embarked on his coaching career, first as an assistant with Division III, Nichols College and then as a graduate assistant at the University of Texas in 2015. That’s where he first met current Northern Kentucky head coach, Darrin Horn, who was an assistant at the time. 2015 was also Shaka Smart’s first year as the Texas men’s basketball head coach.
“I think he’s the best motivator in college basketball,” Evans said of Smart, the current head coach of the Marquette men’s basketball team. “So he really taught me how to dive in and know your players, and how to motivate them to be the best [versions of themselves].”
In Evans’ next stop as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville, after finishing up his master’s in Kinesiology and Exercise Science at Texas, he got a masterclass in how to be a CEO of a program under Rick Pitino.
“I think he’s the best college basketball coach of all time,” Evans said. “What he taught me was, honestly, take care of your people… you [have to] invest and be all in on the kids that you’re in charge of, even your staff as well. He really showed us that every day. He was hard on us, but we knew that he had our back.”
While at Louisville, Evans played a part in developing the Cardinals’ defensive strategy, which ranked within the top 40 in the nation.
At each stop along the way to the head coaching job at AIC, Evans’ role expanded. As an assistant coach at UNC-Asheville, for example, besides his on-court responsibilities, Evans recruited players from North and South Carolina, Virginia, and the New England region in addition to managing the logistics of the recruits’ visits to campus.
“He came in every day super enthusiastic, super positive, and he turned that thing around,” Evans said of UNC-Asheville head coach, Mike Morrell.
When Brett Nelson arrived in Worcester to take over as the Holy Cross men’s basketball head coach in 2019, he hired Evans to serve as his lead assistant. In Evans’ homecoming, he worked with the Holy Cross big men, including three-time All-Patriot League selection Gerrale Gates and Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, Caleb Kenney.
Evans also worked on engaging Holy Cross alumni and student-athletes through a mentorship program that placed student-athletes in postgraduate opportunities, and implemented strategy for recruits’ visits to campus.
He worked under two coaching staffs while at Holy Cross, his first four seasons under Nelson and his final season in Worcester under current Crusaders’ head coach, Dave Paulsen.
“Brett Nelson molded me. He put me in situations I’d never been in as a coach. He let me have a really, really powerful voice, and he trusted me with the program when he was out with COVID. I grew so much under him, so super appreciative of him,” Evans said. “And then honestly, Dave Paulsen changed my mindset of being really within fundamental basketball and having the importance of a base of fundamentals and then… more games are lost than won. You have to avoid losing before you can really win.”
After learning under other head coaches for his entire career, now it’s Evans’ turn to take the reins of a college basketball program.
“Changing the culture starts with the guys in the locker room and the guys that I have on my staff,” Evans said. “I feel really good about the guys I have on my staff. They just want to do the right thing and be good people, really be there for the kids. And as far as changing the culture, it’s just an everyday battle. You need to wake up and everything that matters in your culture has to matter every day, you can’t let it slip. You gotta set a standard, and you gotta hold them accountable to that standard.”
Featured image courtesy of Holy Cross Athletics
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