Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball GM Corey Evans Explains Decision Behind New Role

CINCINNATI — New Cincinnati Bearcats basketball general manager Corey Evans appeared on The Ryen Russillo Podcast this week. Evans went in-depth on his decision to leave the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder for this brand-new role at UC.

Evans started just a few weeks ago.

"I'd like to get back to an NBA front office as a GM. So it was a matter of, before all else making this move? Will it educate me? Is it apples to apples or apples to oranges, right?" Evans said to Russillo. "I don't know that right now, I'm a few weeks in, and shit is flying everywhere. But the most important thing was, I've always been a person that does not want to be complacent. I want to grow, I want to learn, but most of all, I want to impact people's lives for the better, and that's the coaches, that's the support staff, and the players themselves.

"I knew making this jump, the scouting life is not the easiest in the world. It's very lonely at times, rightfully so. You're doing 200 days on the road. To be a part of the fabric of a team directly, was the one thing that I was most looking forward to. And Cincinnati has all the resources, has all the right people in place. It was a matter of, can I come in and help these people out? Alleviate some of the excess B.S. that has kind of added up over the past few years on these coaches laps, and help be that switch to propel them from bubble team to national contender."

Evans was a scout with the Thunder for the past 4.5 years after leaving the Rivals outlet and his basketball recruiting analyst role there. The rising star should help Cincinnati better set up its 2025-26 roster for Big 12 play and bring more continuity to the transfer portal operations.

"I've known Corey Evans for over 13 years," Wes Miller said in a press release upon his hiring. "He is a rising star with a relentless work ethic. He's unique in his base of knowledge as well as his diversity of relationships across all levels of basketball. As our college game continues to transition to a true professional model, I think there is value in adding another staff member with NBA experience as well as a non-coaching background. He will be a vital asset to myself, our staff and our players."

Evans has been evaluating talent for over a decade and is ready to make the tweak from projecting a player years out at a time for the NBA, to evaluating what a transfer can do in the next year.

"Trying to change my [evaluation] lens with my vision in place all at the same time has not been easy," Evans noted. "But the key fundamentals that I want, and the staff wants is kind of goes back to the Thunder: Processing, Shooting, Intel/Good Human Being, Hard-Working Nature and Processing."

Check out the full interview below near the 45-minute mark:

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Published Apr 10, 2025

RUSSELL HELTMAN

Russ Heltman is a contributor for AllBearcats and AllBengals. He is the morning host and producer for 89.3 WMKV in Cincinnati, OH. Russ can be found on Twitter: @RussHeltman11 or you can reach him by email at Heltmandm@yahoo.com.

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