Dan Evans named as the fourth head men’s basketball coach in program history on Tuesday
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Evans lands in Dahlonega after a six-year stint as the head coach at NCAA Division II Ohio Dominican in Columbus, Ohio where he led his team to 76 wins including a 37-12 mark over the past two seasons
Following an extensive national search, University of North Georgia Director of Athletics Lindsay Reeves has announced Dan Evans as the fourth head men’s basketball coach in program history on Tuesday.
“Foremost, we want to welcome Dan, his wife Amy, and kids TR and Maddie to our University community as the newest members of the Nighthawk Athletics family,” Reeves said. “Coach Evans possesses a clear understanding of the core values of UNG and will mentor our student-athletes to successes on the court, in the classroom and in the community.”
Evans lands in Dahlonega after a six-year stint as the head coach at NCAA Division II Ohio Dominican in Columbus, Ohio where he led his team to 76 wins including a 37-12 mark over the past two seasons. ODU’s streak of three consecutive winning seasons marks the first time since 2005. His 76 wins puts him as the third winningest coach in ODU history.
Evans will be formally introduced as the newest member of the North Georgia Athletics family with a press conference and meet & greet Friday, April 19, at 10:30 a.m. in the UNG Convocation Center Multipurpose Room.
“My family and I feel incredibly blessed and excited to be joining the University of North Georgia family and the Dahlonega community,” stated Evans. “We look forward to leading our men’s basketball program into the future with tremendous young men who will represent our program in a first-class manner. We are eager to get on campus and get to work shaping Nighthawk Basketball with our student-athletes.”
For the first five years in Evans’ tenure at ODU, the Panthers increased their win total from the previous year, including a remarkable run to winning the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament Championship and earning a bid to the NCAA Midwest Regional berth in 2018. The Panthers defeated Malone, No. 11 Findlay and Hillsdale to claim the conference tournament title before closing their season with a setback to eventual national champion Ferris State in the NCAA Tournament. ODU finished with a 20-11 record as the Panthers won 12 of their last 13 games to enter the NCAA Tournament.
Evans was hired in May of 2013 by ODU to lead the Panthers after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant coach at Hillsdale College where he was part of a coaching staff that rebuilt the Hillsdale basketball program.
Evans played his collegiate ball at Lawrence University, a Division III school in Wisconsin, where he was a three-year starter and captain. He earned all-conference honors as a senior and helped take Lawrence to the Elite Eight in 2004.
“Our mission when we began this search was to identify the best fit for North Georgia including our student-athletes, staff, fans, alumni and our local community and we found that in Coach Evans,” stated Reeves. “Throughout the interview process, he rose to top of an extremely talented candidate pool with his vision for putting UNG men’s basketball in the national spotlight.”