One of the most iconic figures in the recent era of Colorado men’s basketball has officially made his way back to Boulder.
After two years of playing professionally overseas, Evan Battey has joined Tad Boyle‘s staff at Colorado as an assistant coach/quality control analyst.
“There’s no better Buff in my mind from head to toe than Evan Battey,” Boyle said. “He loves the University of Colorado. He loves what it did for him and he’s a kid that wants to just give back and being a coach is the best way to do that. He’s going to bring a lot of knowledge about playing college basketball and representing the University of Colorado. He will have the ability to impart the wisdom that he’s learned through his years as a player both at CU and as a professional. He’s helped impart that on the players in our program and he’s going to be able to sell our program.”
Battey returns to Boulder after playing for the Lugano Tigers of the Switzerland Basketball League in 2023-24 where he averaged 19.1 points 8.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists over 26 games. He spent his first professional season with Rilski Sportist in Bulgaria, averaging 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in 29 contests.
“It’s so surreal,” Battey said. “Having the experience of playing here and the experience of forming relationships with the coaches, staff and community and then to be welcomed back with such open arms…it’s been great.”
Battey enjoyed a storied playing career at Colorado between 2017-22. After redshirting the 2017-18 season, he was on the floor for 88 wins over the course of the next four years, the most in team history. He didn’t miss a game in his four-year playing career, appearing in 133 contests with 108 starts. Battey helped Colorado to the 2021 NCAA Tournament and a pair of postseason NIT appearances. A certain second NCAA bid in 2020 was wiped away due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A native of Los Angeles, Battey is one of 12 Buffaloes to record at least 1,300 points and 600 rebounds. He finished his career ranking fourth in games played, eighth in starts, 15th in minutes (3,313) and 18th in points (1,307) and rebounds (667). Over the course of his career, he averaged 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting 50.2 percent overall from the field and 74.8 percent from the free throw line.
Battey earned All-Pac-12 Conference Second Team honors as a senior in 2021-22, averaging 12.4 points and 4.7 rebounds ranking second on the team in both categories. He led the Pac-12 in 3-point accuracy both overall (.488) and in conference play (.541). He was a 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award First Team All-American and earned his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Colorado in May 2021.
“I’ll bring the energy, the emotion, the experience,” Battey said. “Just coming from a place that I can relate to the players we have now, in being a former player. I know what they’re going through, and I can add insight and perspective. A lot of communication with the guys. I just want to make sure these guys have the best experience they can have in college basketball.”
In his new role, Battey will be able to coach on the court and recruit on the road as in recent years the NCAA has expanded the number of coaching staff members that are allowed participate in those roles. Aside from those two broad job duties, Boyle will task Battey with simply learning everything he can about the coaching profession.
“Evan is going to be learning as he goes as a first-year coach,” Boyle said. “He’s got a great number of assistant coaches from Mike Rohn to Bill Grier and now Danny Manning and even Zach (Ruebesam) who’s a young coach whose got some experience now in the business. He can learn from them. But I think in terms of the things I’m going to task him with is going to be communication and the relationship with players that are in the program. That’s first and foremost to me.”
Buffs Name Graduate Managers
A pair of Colorado natives, CJ Armitage and Tyson Gilbert have been named graduate managers for the 2024-25 season.
Armitage is in his fourth year with the Colorado men’s basketball program, serving as an undergraduate manager the last three seasons. Originally from Lafayette, Colo, Armitage grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, before returning to Colorado where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Communication this past May.
Gilbert, a native of Highlands Ranch, Colo., played four seasons of college basketball split between CSU Pueblo and Alaska Anchorage. A first team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference pick, Gilbert averaged 15.3 points per game as a senior in 2023-24 helping the Seawolves to a 22-11 record and an NCAA Division II Tournament bid. He graduated from Alaska Anchorage in May 2023 with his bachelor’s degree in Communications.
Armitage and Gilbert are both in Colorado’s Organizational Leadership master’s degree program.
https://cubuffs.com/news/2024/7/8/mens-basketball-evan-battey-returns-to-cu-as-an-assistant-coach
