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Despite wrapping up his playing days last spring, Grant Evans does not stray far from a basketball court. The LaGrange College alum went from playing basketball to coaching it in the blink of an eye.

Evans stays busy as a member of the coaching staff at both LaGrange College and his new-found home at LaGrange Academy. 

“It has been a lot,” Evans said, with a chuckle. “If I’m not at LaGrange Academy you can probably find me at LaGrange College.”

It feels like yesterday that Evans was suiting up and shooting shots for the Panthers, but life comes at you fast.

The plan after graduating last spring: become a graduate assistant and eventually work his way up. It did not happen that way as his graduate assistant position fell through and the LaGrange Academy job was still open, leading him to become a PE coach and the assistant boys basketball coach.

“I love it,” Evans said. “I didn’t know really what to expect. You know, in the classroom you learn, you learn certain things about education. They tell you stuff. But it’s really different when you’re thrown in the fire and you’re in charge of 15 kids running around. So it’s been different. But I love it. It’s a family atmosphere here. So I love that you have great support from the family of the LaGrange Academy, everybody supports one another.”

Evans gets to incorporate a wide range of different coaching techniques during his average week. Coaching high school kids, many of whom are just learning the game, requires a different attitude than when he is on the sidelines for LaGrange College, coaching grown men and formerly his peers.

“At LaGrange College, I coach more of the strategy to the game. It’s more what the offense and defense are doing. So our offense needs this to counter it, or their offense is doing this. So we’re going to do our defense to counter this, and then just telling the players to play their strengths and weaknesses and try to take advantage of other teams, but LaGrange Academy is teaching more of the fundamentals and how to play basketball rather than just strategy,” Evans said.

Evans is an apple that did not fall far from the tree. Rusty Evans, Grant’s father, is a long-time head coach who currently is head of the Heard County girls basketball program. Even his choice to attend LaGrange College was rooted in his family legacy.

“I went to Heritage, which was a small private school, and my dad and mom both went to LaGrange College, so I kind of knew about it a little bit. And so both the high school that I went to was a small school and LaGrange College is not very big either. My parents going here definitely helped me make my decision and then getting in touch with Coach (Kendal) Wallace sealed it,” Evans said. 

Over the last year, Evans has made the transition from being coached by Wallace to coaching alongside him. 

“It’s very different, let me tell you,” Evans said. “He has helped me see the game from a whole different perspective, honestly, like, as a player, you’re trying to in your own way to help your teammates, but you also have to focus on yourself. Seeing everything from a player perspective and a coaching perspective is just so much different than what I expected.”

This is just the opening page of the first chapter of Evans’ coaching career. The vision is to eventually lead his own program, just like his old man.