Board of Directors

Jo Evans

Head Softball Coach
Texas A&M University

National Fastpitch Coaches’ Association (NFCA) Hall of Famer Jo Evans is in her 23rd season at the helm of the nationally-recognized Texas A&M softball program.

During her tenure, Texas A&M has advanced to the NCAA postseason 19 times, including three trips to the Women’s College World Series (WCWS) in 2007, 2008 and 2017 and seven trips to the NCAA Super Regionals. After Texas A&M returned to the WCWS for the first time in 20 seasons in 2007, the ’08 Aggies gutted their way to the Championship Series and posted a national runner-up finish in addition to the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.

Evans’ Aggies have posted 22-straight 30-win seasons, including 11 40-win seasons and a program-best 57 wins in 2008. The 2013 team earned the program’s best start in history with a 19-0 beginning to the year. Texas A&M has compiled an impressive 880-415-2 record under Evans and continues to reach new heights.

One of the winningest active Division I coaches in softball today, Evans has guided Texas A&M to a program-best No. 2 national ranking and a school-record 18-straight NCAA Tournament appearances since 2002.

Numerous student-athletes have flourished with Evans’ guidance to garner national, regional and conference recognition. She has directed 21 All-American selections, 55 all-region selections and 86 all-conference nods. Four Aggies were named the Big 12 Player of the Year, three were chosen as the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, one as a two-time Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and two as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year. In 2008, three-time All-American Megan Gibson marked the first time a single athlete achieved both the player and pitcher of the year honors.

Evans’ players also excel in the classroom as the Aggies have earned 73 academic all-conference awards, and two-time All-American and former Texas A&M volunteer assistant coach Amanda Scarborough went on to become an Academic All-American in 2007. Natalie Villarreal was named to the Academic Momentum Award first team for continued improvement in the classroom in the fall of 2011.

In 2018, Evans and the Aggies returned to the NCAA Super Regionals, sweeping the NCAA College Station Regional that featured Baylor, McNeese and Prairie View A&M. Evans led the Maroon & White to a 44-18 record including a 13-11 ledger in conference. Tori Vidales became Evans’ 21st All-America selection as the senior broke the school’s career record in runs, RBI and total bases.

The 2008 team compiled the most victories in school history with a 57-10 overall record and led the nation with a .983 fielding percentage. Evans and associate head coaches Joy Jackson and Mary Jo Firnbach were voted the 2008 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year.

The seven-time conference coach of the year claimed her 1,000th career coaching victory against Wisconsin on March 1, 2014, joining seven other active NCAA Division I coaches nationwide who had achieved that milestone. Evans holds the most Division I wins among active head coaches in the Southeastern Conference and ranks 7th all-time with 1,149 wins.

Evans came to Texas A&M in the summer of 1996 with 11 years of collegiate coaching experience and an adeptness and capacity to build winning programs. She replaced Bob Brock, who stepped aside after three national championship titles and 15 years at the helm of the Aggies.

Evans began her head-coaching career at Colorado State University in 1986, following two seasons as an assistant coach at Florida State. The Rams finished with a 13-16 record in her first season as head coach, but it was in her fourth and final season that Evans took the program to a 37-14 record and a co-conference championship title. Evans, who led CSU to a 91-67 mark during her four-year stint, collected back-to-back High Country Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors her final two seasons and was chosen as the Central Region Coach of the Year in 1989.

Evans returned home, to Utah, in 1991 to take over at her alma mater and quickly got things going as she directed the Utes to a trip to the Women’s College World Series in just her second year. That season and the following year Utah captured back-to-back Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season and tournament titles. In ’91, Evans’ Utes defeated Texas A&M at the NCAA Regionals in College Station to advance to Oklahoma City. Their quest for a second straight trip to the WCWS was cut short, however, when they lost to the eventual national champion UCLA in the ’92 regional finals.

In 1994, the Utes returned for their second appearance in the World Series under Evans with record-setting performances along the way. The Utes rewrote the Utah record books for virtually every statistical category including most wins (51), best finish in the World Series (5th), highest national ranking (7th) and best winning percentage (.797), to name a few. Evans earned her second WAC Coach of the Year award and was also named as the West Region Coach of the Year by her peers.

As a player at Utah, Evans earned High Country All-Conference Honors in 1982 as she led the team to a World Series appearance. She also was named as an ASA All-American in Women’s Class-A Nationals.

Evans is the daughter of Bill and Bonnie Evans of Salt Lake City. She has three siblings, her oldest sister, Karen, and brother, Craig, live in Salt Lake City, and sister, Vicki, lives in Walnut Cove, North Carolina.