After 21 seasons as women’s golf coach at Auburn, Kim Evans has accepted a new position within the University and has decided to end her Auburn coaching career.
Evans led Auburn to eight SEC titles and seven top-10 finishes in 21 seasons.
An Auburn alumna, Evans is one of the most successful coaches in Auburn athletics history, leading the program to eight SEC Championships, 20 consecutive NCAA Regional appearances and seven top-10 finishes in 14 NCAA Championships.
“To all my past and present players—it has been an honor to coach you and share great memories with you and your families,” Evans said. “I will always appreciate and admire your hard work and character—because of you, Auburn golf is the best program in the country. I want to say thank you to all of the Auburn family and athletics department for your support and friendship. I have been blessed to call Auburn athletics my home for the past 21 years, and I would like to thank David Housel and Jay Jacobs for giving me the opportunity to coach. I’m excited about my future with Auburn University and continuing to cheer for the Auburn Tigers every day—War Eagle!”
Evans led Auburn to a tie for second nationally in 2002 and a third-place finish in 2005, while winning SEC titles in 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012. Her eight conference titles are tied for the second-most by a coach in Auburn athletics history.
She compiled a 2,586-999-46 record while leading the program to 36 tournament victories and 96 top-three finishes in 223 tournaments. Auburn achieved a program-first No. 1 national ranking at the conclusion of the regular season in 2002 and was ranked No. 1 at the start of the 2002-03 season.
In all, Evans coached seven SEC Golfers of the Year, 13 All-Americans with 29 honors and 19 All-SEC recipients. She had seven SEC Freshmen of the Year and one NGCA National Freshman of the Year, while four of her golfers; Marci Clemons (1996), Danielle Downey (2000), Maria Martinez (2006) and Patricia Sanz (2012) were SEC Champions. Eight of Evans’ players went on to play professionally on the LPGA Tour.
Academically, her students excelled as 31 individuals earned 71 SEC Academic Honor Roll honors and seven collected a combined 16 NGCA All-American Scholar distinctions.
“History will remember Kim Evans as one of the greatest coaches Auburn has ever had, but I will remember her most for all the lives she has touched,” Auburn Director of Athletics Jay Jacobs said. “Kim certainly won her share of championships as a coach, but more importantly, she shaped the lives of her players in a profound way. She has made her golfers better players and better people, she made this department a better place to work, and she has made our community a better place to live. I’m so pleased that she will serve in a new role with the university and that she will continue to be such a huge part of the Auburn Family.”
A five-time SEC Coach of the Year (1996, 2001, ’02, ’09, ’12) and three-time Regional Coach of the Year (1996, 2001, ’02), Evans was named the National Golf Coaches Association National Coach of the Year in 2002. In 2008, Evans was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Hall of Fame.
The Decatur, Alabama, native was also awarded the Horton Smith Award for education by the Dixie Section of the PGA at its 2009 Annual Meeting. In the spring of 2015, Evans received the Auburn University Women of Distinction Award, presented annually to faculty who demonstrate exemplary leadership abilities.
Evans, 56, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in May 2013, just before the Tigers were set to begin postseason play. She went through chemotherapy at UAB and has been cancer-free since October 2013. Since then, she has been active in promoting awareness of ovarian cancer throughout the state of Alabama and around the southeast.
Known for her charitable endeavors, Evans has been very active in the local community for years, helping with such events as the Will Golf Fore Food golf fundraiser, End Child Hunger in Alabama initiative, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels, Lee Russell Aging Foundation, Chicken Salad Chick Foundation, Norma Livingston Ovarian Cancer Foundation and the Boys & Girls Club of Lee County. An Auburn athletics WINGS mentor, Evans is also on one the Alabama First Tee Board of Directors and the PGA Barbasol Championship Steering Committee.
A four-year letter winner at Auburn from 1977-81, Evans graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree from Auburn in 1981. Evans began her coaching career at Georgia Tech in 1988 serving as an assistant coach with the men’s golf program until she was hired at Auburn in 1994.
The search for a new women’s golf coach begins immediately.
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