Former Ole Miss men’s basketball head coach Rob Evans has been named an SEC Legend. The Rebels’ coach from 1993 to 1998 will be honored next month at the SEC Tournament in St. Louis.
For the past 20 years running, the Southeastern Conference has selected one representative from each SEC school to earn the title of SEC Legend. Each Legend will be honored at halftime of his respective school’s opening game of the SEC Tournament.
Rob Evans cuts down the net after becoming SEC West Champions in 1997. Evans held an 86-81 record as head coach from 1993-1998. Photo courtesy of Ole Miss Athletics
Under Evans, Ole Miss basketball experienced a renaissance of success, the likes of which were previously unseen in Mississippi. He led the Rebels to two NCAA Tournament appearances as well as two SEC Western Division Titles. The 1997 Western Division Championship was Ole Miss’ first basketball championship title in school history. That same season, Evans was named the SEC Coach of the Year and the College Hoops Insider National Coach of the Year.
Evans assembled another impressive year in the 1997-98 season – one in which the Rebels took home the Western Division title a second time and made a deep run into March. It was the first time in school history the Rebels competed in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. Finishing off that season with a 22-7 record, Evans was a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
Evans sits with the fifth-most victories of any coach in Ole Miss history with 86. He left the school with an overall record of 86-81 before coaching stints at Arizona State, Arkansas, TCU and North Texas. Evans retired in 2017 with an overall head coaching record of 205-201.
Evans joins LSU’s John Brady and Auburn’s Joel Eaves as the only head coaches named to the SEC Legends list this year. In 2016, Ole Miss added 6-foot-6-inch small forward/guard Johnny Neumann to the Legend list. Neumann, who played ball in Oxford from 1970 to 1971, averaged 40.1 points per game as a sophomore and was consequently named SEC Basketball Player of the Year before turning pro.
