Jeff Evans, former assistant director of baseball information for the Seattle Mariners, will be taking over as the Western sports information director for Paul Madison, who has held the position for 48 years.
For the last 20 years Evans has worked in the sports information field at both the collegiate and professional level.
After studying at Washington State University under Rod Commons, Evans worked at Arizona State University for five years as assistant sports information director, before working for the Seattle Mariners.
T.H. “Butch” Kamena, assistant athletics director for compliance and academics at Western, and head of the search committee to find Madison’s replacement, spoke very highly of Evans.
“The unique thing about Evans is the variety of experience he’s had,” Kamena said.
Even though Evans is taking a step back from the Mariners, nothing but praise is coming from Mariners officials.
Randy Adamack, senior vice president of communications for the Mariners, and Evans’ previous boss wished him only the best in his new career with Western.
“He had a very good understanding of what the needs are for the media,” Adamack said. “Anticipating upcoming stories, upcoming events and which timetables are important. He’s a professional, takes a lot of pride in what he does and has a thorough understanding of his job and what it takes to be successful.”
But even with his experienced background, Evans has big shoes to fill.
Steven Card, Western’s athletic director, spoke briefly about the SID position and what Evans must do to keep sports information flowing for all 15 of Western’s collegiate teams.
“You’re going from covering one sport to 15 sports, where it’s just a different animal,” Card said. “The nuts and bolts of the job are similar, but dealing with 10 different head coaches and multiple events occurring at one time which all must be covered, is a bit different. But Evans brings experience with him that will help him succeed.”
Even though Evans has a big learning curve ahead of him, both Card and Kamena are very excited to see what he will bring to the table. This includes new ways of getting information out to the public, better use of social media and a combination of new and old techniques to utilize and provide better information to both older and younger generations.
“His experience with professional sports will allow him to bring some of the cutting edge technology that you have to utilize in any major league sport, and apply it in ways that we haven’t thought about or haven’t been doing,” Card said.
Although Evans had a lot of fun while working for the Mariners, he said he is looking forward to integrating himself and his family into the Bellingham community.
“I’m really excited to make the transition back to college sports,” Evans said. “Everyone through the whole process was awesome. Anytime you make a job change or a transition, it’s all about the people you will be working with. I walked away from Bellingham and Western’s campus saying ‘this is an awesome situation.’”
Evans is excited to talk with Madison and to work with the student body from a number of different departments, in order to give students hands-on experience in the sports and communication world.
This type of hands-on experience made Evans fall in love with communication and sports, leading him to the job he holds now, Evans said.
“I’d love to build a program with the journalism and graphic design students, so that students can get some experience, much like I did at Washington State,” Evans said. “I want to see if there are some students that want to get involved in athletics, to help build their resumes and show them how the sports world works.”
Evans starts his new position on Monday, Oct. 12. He hopes to talk with anyone interested in sports, sports information or the upcoming program he is striving to create.
