Former UNT Coach Kenny Evans lands at East Central

Harry · August 2, 2014

East Central has a new head coach. Its former NSU head coach Kenny Evans. Evans returns to the high school level for the first time since 1981. He takes over after Bobby Klinck resigned to become the defensive coordinator at Broken Arrow. The former Riverhawk head coach is ready for something new. Its going to be an eye opening experience for me and its a new adventure, said the new Cardinal head coach. 32 years as a college football coach at seven universities. As far as the football goes, that part I feel good about.

Evans takes over one of the top 5A programs in Oklahoma. Bobby Klinck did a great job. Its one of those premier jobs. They always have talent. That made it more appealing to me, Evans said. East Central has made three trips to the 5A title game, with their only championship victory coming in 2005. The Cardinals have been to the title game twice in the last four seasons. Both appearances ended in losses.

Taking over a job like East Central comes with some inherited expectations. East Central has made it to the playoffs 16 straight seasons. East Central is also in an extremely tough district; they finished fourth last season. Its going to be tough because we have some good coaches in this district. Its definitely going to be a tough level, hopefully Im up for the challenge.

Evans is a graduate of NSU and in his six seasons as Riverhawk head coach, he led his alma mater to a 22-44 record. He was fired in November. Evans took some time to look at what kind of opportunities were out there before deciding on East Central. "I looked at several different things. I interviewed at a couple division one jobs, thought about going back to that level," Evans said. "I interviewed for one head coaching job. Even as late as three weeks ago, I was talking to an NFL team about scouting for them."