Report: Belmont to hire Duke assistant Evan Bradds as next head coach

Belmont is set to hire Duke assistant coach Evan Bradds as its next head coach, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported. He would replace Casey Alexander, who just took over as the head coach at Kansas State.

Bradds played college basketball at Belmont before getting into coaching. He started out in the NBA G-League with the Maine Red Claws in 2017 before joining the Boston Celtics from 2018-22. After three years with the Utah Jazz, Jon Scheyer hired him at Duke this season.

Now, Bradds is preparing to become a head coach for the first time. Norlander later reported the expectation is he will stay with Duke through the NCAA Tournament.

During his time at Belmont from 2013-17, Bradds starred for the Bruins. He was a two-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and a two-time Honorable Mention All-American in 2016 and 2017. After going undrafted in 2017, he joined the Red Claws as an assistant coach.

Bradds earned a starting role at Belmont in 2014-15 and ran with it, averaging 14.2 points and 7.2 rebounds to help the program reach the NCAA Tournaent. He then took a big leap forward as a junior with 17.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while leading the OVC with a 71.4% shooting percentage. In 2016-17, he got even better with a career-high 20.0 points to go with 8.4 rebounds on average.

Evan Bradds played for the legendary Rick Byrd at Belmont and graduated two years before Casey Alexander took over. Now, Bradds will get ready to replace Alexander – a fellow Belmont alumnus.

Alexander totaled a 166-60 record at Belmont, which moved to the Missouri Valley in 2022. The Bruins handled the transition well, never finishing lower than fourth place in the standings, and the program won 20 or more games each year of his tenure.

Alexander played college basketball at Belmont from 1992-95 and got his coaching career started as an assistant at his alma mater from 1995-2011. That’s when he became a first-time head coach at Stetson, and he took the Hatters from a 9-20 record in Year 1 to 15-16 in Year 2.

From there, Alexander took over at Lipscomb in 2013 and got the Bisons to the NCAA Tournament in 2018 when they won the ASUN Tournament. He went 113-84 overall from 2013-19 and led the program to an ASUN regular-season title in 2019 when he returned to Belmont as head coach.