Rainmen Name New Coach

photo by Scott Kirkpatrick, stkphoto.com

The Halifax Rainmen announced Mike Evans as their new bench boss Wednesday morning.

Evans boasts an impressive resume in the basketball world, that should immediately garner him respoect amongst his new players.

He played his college ball at Kansas State, where he still holds the school all-time scoring record with 2,115 points and was named Big Eight Conference Player of the Year twice (1977, 1978) and first team all-conference honors three times.

Evans was selected in the first round (21st overall) of the 1978 NBA Darft by the Denver Nuggets. He played nine seasons in the NBA, including stints with San Antonio (1978-80), Milwaukee (1980-82), Cleveland (1981-82) and Denver (1982-89). Evans was considered a threat from beyond the arc throughout his professional career, leading in those categories several times.

After retiring from playing, Evans took a job with the Denver Nuggets coaching staff in 2001, before becoming the Director of Player Personnel, and eventually took on the interim head coaching duties following the firing of Dan Issel midway through the season.

Evans later went on to be a scout in the Toronto Raptors organzation and spent a year as an assistant coach with the Raptors.

The Rainmen will play their first game under the new regime Saturday as they play host to the Saint John Mill Rats.