By Dixon Land
Leader Staff
Nick Evans, a native of Watson Chapel, moved to Ohio when his dad took a job there. He graduated from Clyde High School, where he played football. After graduation, Evans joined the football team at the University of Findlay, winning two national championships in three years in 1995 and 1997.
Evans, the new defensive line coach on the Nashville Scrapper Football team, has a long history of coaching football and experience at many different schools, both locally, and internationally.
“My dad worked in Ohio, so I played up there and went to high school up there,” Evans said. “Then I went to the university of Findlay, where we won two [NAIA] national championships in ‘95 and ‘97.”
After earning his bachelors degree, Evans worked for a chemical company as a process engineer. He also picked up coaching as a volunteer with a buddy.
In 2003, Evans became interested in teaching. He sought out help and advice from a close friend.
“I called my mom, who was a professor at Henderson State and went there to earn my teaching license,” Evans said.
Along with earning his teaching license, Evans joined the Henderson State coaching staff as a student assistant in 2003 under coach Jesse Branch. Branch, who was at Henderson until 2004, was replaced by current head coach Scott Maxfield. Maxfield kept Evans on, employing him as a graduate assistant until 2007, when he earned his license.
“I left Henderson State for Lake Hamilton, where I taught and coached defensive line,” Evans said.
In January of 2008, Evans became the head coach of the Eidsvoll 1814’s, a European team from Norway.
The 1814’s, along with other Norwegian teams, had been behind the curve as opposed to many other European countries that played football, most of which started after World War Two.
For one season, Evans coached the 1814’s, winning the Norwegian National Championship and finishing in the quarterfinals of the European Football League playoffs.
“When we won the national championship, the Prince of Norway gave us our medals, so that was a pretty cool experience.”
During his time overseas, Evans got to visit many different countries, most of the time due to football games. He said that he coached in Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Russia and Italy to name a few.
In 2009, Evans took a job at Ashdown High School in Arkansas as an assistant coach and teacher, then in 2011, he left to be the head coach and athletic director at Talulah High School in Mississippi.
When he returned to Arkansas in 2012, he was an assistant coach at Mineral Springs and then the head coach his second year. In 2013, he was named the offensive coordinator at Maumelle High School.
In May of 2015, he contacted Coach Maxfield at Henderson State, when hearing about Scrapper Head Coach Mike Volarvich’s acceptance of the job.
“I had met Coach Volarvich through Henderson State and when he took the job here, I contacted him through Coach Maxfield and asked if there would be an openings,” Evans said.
Now at Nashville High School and scheduled to teach social studies in the fall, along with coaching receivers, Evans is happier than ever: partly because he is closer to his wife.
“My wife works at the high school as the guidance counselor, but it was rough when I was away. She made it to every game and I’d come up here any chance I got,” Evans said.
