Evans out, Sutton takes over at USF

Jessie Evans, who was in his fourth season at the University of San Francisco, has coached his last game on the hilltop. The official word from USF is that he will take a leave of absence. Former Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton was named the head Don for the rest of the season on Wednesday.

The whole thing is very unusual. Was this mid-season decision brought on after the AD department had downed too much eggnog? Probably not, although it does seem to be rather odd timing. True, the team had lost five of its last six and earlier this month had a player suspended by the NCAA for supposedly accepting improper payments. That seems relatively minor when compared to the fact that they have only had five winning seasons in the last ten years and only one of those came with single-digit losses attached. The last time they made it to the NCAA tournament was in 1998 and that was after a sixteen year drought; not exactly a model of success. Trying to stay out of the WCC cellar and getting some free publicity must've become their Christmas wish. Everything leading up to the announcement pointed to a situation where Evans would resign. The AD claims the decision was solely Evans'. Still needing to negotiate the buyout is probably the truth of the matter.

Regardless, bringing in Sutton was a nice PR move/goodwill gesture. The 71-year-old needs only two victories to join the elite group of coaches with 800 career wins. He's taken four schools to the NCAA tournament and his last trip to the Final Four was 3 1/2 years ago. He had unwillingly resigned after the 2005-06 season because of his long-reported battle with alcohol.

Maybe he's opened a door for USF and his son Scott (who's the head coach at Oral Roberts) to hook up soon. He's not going to win a national championship but achieving something only four other coaches have achieved (Knight, Smith, Phelan, Rupp) is an outstanding accomplishment and something he can hang his hat on. Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is only a matter of time for the senior Sutton.

Evans will likely resurface as an assistant or as head man at another school. He's spent most of his career out West (having also coached at Arizona, San Diego State, and Wyoming) so there's a good chance he'll turn up someplace in the Pacific time zone.