Since being named head coach at Idaho State on March 8, 2012, Bill Evans has established his program as a team that has success on the court, in the classroom and in the community.

On the court Evans is coming off a year where the Bengals went 14-16 in 2017-18. He coached the Big Sky Conference Top Reserve in Brandon Boyd and Jared Stutzman earned third-team all-league honors.

The Evans coached Bengals finished 16-15 during the 2015-16 season. The final record was the sixth best finish since the 1976-77 season and the 11-7 conference record was the best winning percentage since the 2000-01 team went 10-6. That year Evans was named the NABC All-District Coach of the Year as well as the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.

Evans is only the fourth ISU coach to be named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. Evans coached a Bengal offense in 2015-16 that set a then school record for 3-pointers made in a season and ISU had its first first-team all-conference player since 2008-09 in Ethan Telfair.

Evans has been one of the top defensive coaches in the game. Since being head coach in Pocatello, The Bengal defense has regularly been ranked in the top half of the league in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.
In the 2012-13 season, the Bengals finished the year second overall in scoring defense, giving up only 64.3 points a game.  That mark was the best by a Bengal team since before the shot clock era.

A year later, the Bengals held opponents to 69.4 points a game in Big Sky Conference games.

During Evans six years in Pocatello he has coached four all-conference players in Telfair, Chris Hansen, Geno Luzcando,  Stutzman,  Boyd and Jeffrey Solarin. Hansen left ISU as the school’s all-time leader for 3-pointers made and attempted.  He also left ISU as the ninth leading scorer in program history. Solarin finished his career ranked in the Top 10 for total career rebounds. Boyd was named the Top Reserve by the Big Sky Conference for the 2017-18 season and Stutzman earned third-team all-conference honors last season as well.

Telfair put together one of the best single-seasons in Bengal history in 2015-16. He averaged 20.2 points overall and 23.9 in conference play. He also tallied 5.7 assists and 4.5 rebounds in league. For the year he made 205 free throws.

In the classroom, the Bengals recorded a perfect 1,000 APR for the 2012-13 school year along with a team GPA of 3.0 for 2014 spring semester. The Bengals boasted over a 3.0 GPA for the 2014-15 academic year.

His team is recognized by the NABC for their success in the classroom year in and year out. For the 2017-18 school year five players were named to the Honors Court and his program was one of only 41 Division I schools to have a 3.0 or better. 

From 2015-17, Evans has had eight student-athletes recognized by the NABC for academic excellence and the 2015-16 season saw a record six players earn Big Sky All-Academic honors. The team also received the team academic excellence award by the NABC for the 2014-15 season. For the 2017 spring semester, the team had its highest GPA in program history, a 3.36.

Evans is a seasoned veteran of 36 years in the coaching ranks, serving for four years as an assistant coach at Montana prior to coming to Idaho State. He was the head coach at SUU from 1992-2007. He was also an assistant for two years at SUU prior to being named head coach.

Evans, who is the 22nd coach in program history, is the winningest coach in Southern Utah history with 209 victories and during his time in Missoula he was in charge of the team’s defense that led the conference in scoring defense for the four years he was there.

Evans was named coach of the year four times during his time as head coach at SUU where he guided the Thunderbirds to the programs first and only NCAA tournament berth in 2001 where they lost 67-64 to No. 9 Boston College. SUU finished 25-6 that season.  Evans also coached 27 all-conference players during his tenure at SUU.

Prior to coaching at SUU, he had stints at the University of Alaska-Anchorage (1986-90); an assistant at SUU (1985-86); at Idaho State (a graduate assistant from 1984-85); and was a volunteer assistant coach at Southern Utah State College in the 1983-84 season.

Evans began his coaching career as the head mentor at Port Sulphur High School in New Orleans, from 1977-83, and had a six-year record of 112-47 there.

He earned his B.A. degree in physical education at Southern Utah in 1972.  He received his master's degree in athletic administration from Idaho State in 1985.

Evans and his wife, Sunny, have five children: Quentin, Dave, Tori, Trajan, and Kansas.