Recently, Pike Liberal Arts School announced the hiring of former college volleyball star Madison Evans as the school’s new head volleyball coach. 

Evans grew up in Crawfordville, Fla., and played high school volleyball at Wakulla High School, where she amassed 546 kills, 96 assists, 96 aces, 712 digs, and 77 blocks during her high school career. She went on to play college volleyball at Life University. At Life, she earned All-Conference honors as a freshman and was nominated for Newcomer of the Year, Freshman of the Year and was ranked in the Top 10 as a hitter in the NAIA. Evans and Life finished runner up in the Mid-South Conference Tournament and played in the NAIA National Tournament that season. 

During her career at Life, Evans tallied 316 kills, 12 aces, 157 digs and 12 assists. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury derailed her college career during her sophomore season. She helped coach the A5 Volleyball Club in Atlanta, Ga., during her college career, which sparked an interest in coaching. Her connection with Troy volleyball legend Janie Wiggins also played a part in her move to coaching.

“I started coaching in college and really enjoyed it and when I injured my shoulder my sophomore season I didn’t really know what I was going to do,” Evans said.  My mom did camps with (Wiggins) when I was younger and she also offered me a scholarship (to LBW) when I was in high school. Janie offered me a job when I had no idea what I was going to do after that injury. So, I moved to Alabama on a whim and haven’t stopped coaching since.”

Evans was an assistant coach at LBW for Wiggins for the past two years and also a club coach at Deep South Volleyball, which was founded by Wiggins. She led her squad to the Girls Junior National Championships in 2024. 

“I was looking for a (head) coaching job and I came for my interview and the staff here was so amazing and I loved the campus,” Evans said of her decision to take the job at Pike. “I just got this sort of, ‘It’s the right thing’ feeling about it. That made the decision for me more than anything.” 

Evans is looking to bring some consistency to the PLAS program, which has had three head coaches in the past two seasons, as well as continuing to grow a program that has won three straight Area Championships. 

“They want to make it to state and I want to help make that happen so badly,” Evans emphasized. “I also want to be able to bring some more opportunities here, like camps and tournaments and those sorts of experiences. With the connections I have in the area – and the sport – I’m looking forward to bringing that to them. I also want to bring some consistency to the coaching position.”