You may not have heard of the Chattanooga Patriots or their head coach Randy Evans who also pulls double duty as the Athletic Director of the organization, but he's doing some big things with this year's group to put this homeschool program on the Chattanooga map.
Randy Evans is a graduate of Sale Creek high school where he excelled at basketball, from a young age his love and passion for the game raged on like a burning fire within himself. He worked his way into an opportunity to play at the college level at Bryan College out in Dayton, TN.
After his playing days were behind him, he got his start in coaching, returning to the area in which that basketball fire was first lit. He began coaching at Cleveland Middle for nine years and then got a bump up to the college level working as an assistant with Cleveland State after that for a couple of seasons.
His basketball journey then led him to Knoxville Christian but after a year there he knew the most important lives he needed to focus on were the lives of his kids. So, he refocused and began coaching and teaching them the game of basketball and that's when the Chattanooga Patriots opportunity arose.
The opportunity came together quick, fast, and in a hurry as he began as an assistant to a dad that was running the team for a year. Then, before the next season that dad stepped down and the Athletic Director stepped away to focus on her grandkids which left Evans with both opportunities simultaneously.
It's really a unique situation and Evans has hit the ground running with it since he took over in 2020.
The team initially began in a great homeschool conference, but he said it began to wear on everybody with everything that went into it... "At the end of the day it was a lot of travel, the conference spread from Huntsville (AL) to Bowling Green, and it was just a lot of travel, a lot of expenses."
From there the decision was made to pull out of that conference and focus on playing as many Chattanooga area teams that they could and build their schedule that way.
However, it hasn't been a walk in the park putting together a schedule for coach Evans over the years...
"A lot of the time we're the last to get scheduled or the first to get dropped just because of the nature of being in districts and conferences and all that stuff because we're not in a district or a conference," Evans continued, "So, sometimes our schedule has to fluctuate a little bit because we'll add games or we'll lose some games later because maybe a conference team had a weather related issue and we're the first to get bumped."
With all of those variables and moving parts surround the Patriots schedule, Evans told us it took him from February until early November to finalize it.
Despite all of the scheduling hurdles this season in particular has been a very fruitful one for the Patriots as the team has blossomed to 11-6. Here are some of the players to keep your eye out for this season when watching this very talented group of homeschool kids...
- MaGuire Evans: Averaging about 13.5 points and 5 assists per game, he's the one who gets this team going every single night and deals with the opponent's toughest defender.
- Jonathan Swanson: The scorer, he averages 17.5 points per game-He missed some time early on in the year and it was tough for them, but it's been great to have him back.
- Ryan Swanson: The big man, he's a 6'7 freshman and younger brother of Jonathan. He's really learning how to play the game and how to control his body through the game of basketball.
- Jayden Hall: The point guard, he runs the offense for this team, and has really done a nice job of taking care of the basketball this season.
Other guys to keep an eye on as well, Logan Thompson, Brady Daniel, and Boss Hoewischer.
In addition, here's an update from coach Evans on what his team/kids have accomplished recently...
- The team is on a five-game winning streak
- Jonathan Swanson Scored his 1,000th point against Rhea County
- Logan Thompson Scored his career high 27 points against Knoxville Ambassadors, on the last night his dad would be able to see him play due to his job abroad
- Maguire Evans scored 46 points, hitting 10 threes against the Georgia Force, surpassing my high school career high of 40 points
- Got 2023 started off on the right foot against a very good Soddy Daisy team 57-42
If you'd like to the full conversation from Randy Evans, check out the Baseline 2 Baseline High School Basketball show here.