There has been a lot of shuffling of the Utah men’s basketball coaching staff under head coach Craig Smith this offseason.
On Tuesday, the program announced the latest move to fill the final assistant coach position, with former RSL Academy, Wasatch Academy and Lone Peak coach David Evans joining the group.
Evans replaces Tramel Barnes on Smith’s staff. Barnes left last week for a similar position at South Dakota State.
The news was first reported by The Runnin’ Hoops Podcast’s Andrew Crowley on Monday.
“Dave is an outstanding basketball coach,” Smith said in a statement. “He has demonstrated success as a head coach throughout his career and understands winning. Dave has won at a high-level no matter where he’s been and there is a reason for that.
“In addition to his players raving about him, another aspect that became very apparent during this search process is how many genuine relationships he’s had with coaches around the globe. We are excited to welcome Dave and his family to the Runnin’ Utes.”
Who is David Evans?
Evans comes to Utah as a highly accomplished basketball coach at the prep level, with experience coaching a variety of players who’ve reached the collegiate and NBA levels.
Evans was most recently the program director at Real Salt Lake Academy, where his nationally ranked team went 67-21 during his tenure.
Prior to that, Evans was the head coach at Wasatch Academy from 2018-20 and went 51-6, with back-to-back appearances in the GEICO National Tournament. The Tigers ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in his tenure.
Evans also was the head coach of the Lone Peak High boys basketball team from 2015-18. The Knights were 66-13 under Evans and won the 2018 6A state championship after finishing runners-up the year before.
“I am so grateful to be a part of the University of Utah basketball program,” Evans said in a statement. “I want to thank Coach Smith, the staff and Mark Harlan for the opportunity and I look forward to help continue building the program as it enters the Big 12 Conference.”
Evans, a California native, played college ball at BYU-Hawaii and is the program’s all-time leading scorer. He served on Ken Wagner’s staff from 2011-14 at Division II BYU-Hawaii.
Evans coached Caleb Lohner at Wasatch Academy. Lohner, a power forward and former four-star recruit who previously played at BYU and Baylor, is joining Utah as a walk-on this year while earning a scholarship on the football program.
Evans also coached David Katoa, a guard in the Utes’ 2024 class, during his time at RSL Academy. Katoa will serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before joining the Utes.
How is Utah’s coaching staff shaping up?
In addition to Evans, the Utes have added former Sacramento State assistant Loren Leath and former West Virginia assistant Josh Eilert to similar positions under Smith, who is headed into his fourth season as Utah’s head coach.
Three assistants from last year’s coaching staff — Barnes, Chris Burgess and DeMarlo Slocum — left for assistant roles at other schools. Burgess rejoined the BYU staff under first-year coach Kevin Young and Slocum headed to Washington under first-year coach Danny Sprinkle, the former Utah State head coach.
Utah still has to replace former Director of Basketball Operations Curran Walsh, who left for an assistant coach role at the University of Denver.
Crowley reported that an announcement is expected on the basketball operations role later this week.
The Utes began summer workouts last week.