When Jeremy Evans joined Mississippi Valley State University as Director of Strength and Conditioning, he was starting from scratch. The school had no strength coach, no established strength program, and a severely outdated weight room. But for Coach Evans, building strength programs with limited resources was nothing new. After a decade of coaching at the college level, Evans gained a reputation of taking disadvantaged programs to new heights. Today, Coach Evans continues to transform athletes through strength training, giving student-athletes structure, standards, and someone who cares enough to demand their best.
Raised in Canton, Mississippi, Evans didn’t always plan on being a strength coach. While studying at the University of Southern Mississippi, he interned at Oak Grove High School. After experiencing the energy and excitement of athletics, he realized it was the path for him.
Moving through the ranks
While attending graduate school at Jackson State University, Evans interned at STACK Velocity Sports Performance, who offered him a full-time position. Coach Evans spent four years training hundreds of athletes from youth leagues to the NFL, including big name athletes like Tyreek Hill.
“I was training with a lot of high school athletes, younger kids, 5th grade, 6th grade, 3rd grade, 1st grade,” says Coach Evans. “I would say that’s when I honed in on my coaching skills. Because you can’t over-complicate things with kids. Everything has to be simple. To make things interesting and get their attention, I had to be creative and really hone in on my coaching skills. That’s when I started to realize that if I can get a seven or eight year old kid to perform at a high level, training high school and college athletes or pros would be nothing.”
His reputation for results opened doors at the college level. He joined Jackson State University in 2018, overseeing strength for 16 sports on a two-man team. He credits those years with refining his time management, creativity, and resilience.
“Being on a two-man staff comes with a lot of challenges,” says Coach Evans. “You have to learn how to manage your time wisely. You have to learn how to manage your resources wisely. It helped me hone in on that part as well as how to get the best results at a HBCU in the FCS division one level.”
Evans joined South Carolina State in 2021, again becoming part of a two-man team. This came with its limitations, but his teams posted fewer injuries and improved performances. In 2021, they won the HBCU National Championship, beating his former school, Jackson State. The win validated his process of prioritizing the basics and tailoring training to the unique needs of each athlete.
“All the things that I learned at Jackson State, I had to really implement those things at South Carolina State because it was a lot smaller,” Coach Evans says. “A lot of times the resources don’t make your program, your coaching makes everything. So I had to really bear down and hone in on what’s important.”
Building something from nothing
When Coach Evans arrived at Mississippi Valley State in 2023, the school had gone two years without a strength coach. The weight room had only five racks, one glute-ham machine, and was missing fundamental training tools like med balls. He reached out to his peers and landed a donation of 11 racks and a complete equipment upgrade from Ole Miss, since they happened to be replacing their weight room equipment at the same time.
“That’s what I learned from being elsewhere, you never complain about the things that you do have,” says Coach Evans. “You don’t make excuses for them. The reason you’re here is to coach. That’s number one. What you do with your space and what you can maximize with the things that you have are key things to creating a resilient team.”
Alongside a professional intern, Coach Evans oversees strength and conditioning for all 14 varsity sports at Mississippi Valley State. To manage the wide variety of athletes, he implements TeamBuildr. The TeamBuildr software tracks athlete metrics, streamlines workouts, and optimizes time spent coaching.
“The biggest thing that helps me is the Teambuildr App,” says Coach Evans. “Teambuildr, for me, acts as an extra coach in an administrator role because they do so much. It’s a big lifesaver when you don’t have a big staff, you’re limited in resources, and you have to find things to help you maximize your time.”
Through his unrelenting effort, Coach Evans brings consistency, culture, and safety to Mississippi Valley State University. Injury rates have dropped dramatically, from double-digit season-ending injuries in football alone to just two throughout his first year. Evans plans to expand the coaching staff in the near-future, but he continues to accomplish great things with a two-man staff, a humble budget, and a refusal to make excuses.
“One thing about the kids not having strength and conditioning for 2 years and actually getting a program that’s headed in the right direction, their energy levels are on a different level,” Coach Evans says. “They’re very appreciative of all the things they’re getting. They have a top level coach that trained NFL guys, national champions at the HBCU level, where they’re trying to get to. When they saw the equipment coming in and the changes being made, their motivation and competition went to a different level. It was exciting to watch the fruits of that labor.”
Leaving a lasting legacy
Coach Jeremy Evans’ story is a testament to unwavering leadership in the face of adversity. His career shows that great strength coaches don’t wait for perfect moments, they create success with what they have. From youth athletes to national titles, Coach Evans shows that consistency, creativity, and care are the key resources a strength coach needs.
“We just want to produce diamonds in the rough,” says Coach Evans. “It was a situation where if I got a chance to build it, I’m going to go all in. I’m going to try to turn this thing around. The biggest thing about me is, I’m setting it up right now for the next person. Whatever I leave for the person coming in, it’ll be a more desirable job than it was. It was vacant for two years because of the resources that weren’t there. I’m just providing the foundation, building this program, and getting ready to pass it on to the next person — passing the baton so they can take it above and beyond.”
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Whether you are programming phys ed, weights classes, or sport-specific workouts, students and athletes can input workout data via their mobile devices or by using our weight room view tablet feature. This feature allows 4-8 athletes to receive their individualized workouts, including prescribed loads and intensities, using tablets in the weight room. Our reporting features help coaches view student progress over time, identify strengths and weaknesses, and visualize the effectiveness of the strength and conditioning program.
Header Image Attribution: Chillin662, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
