- USU Eastern promoted Easton Ralphs from interim to head coach on April 30 after six years on staff. His first full season opens October 31 at home against Western Wyoming, before a month almost entirely on the road.
- This story sits inside Utah's basketball lane and connects to the larger statewide sports picture.
- The story is backed by 3 sources and a visible last-verified date.
September 8, 2026
September 8, 2026
4 min / 818 words
3 official links
USU Eastern did not take its men's basketball coaching search outside Price. On April 30, the Eagles named Easton Ralphs the program's head coach after he had spent six years on staff and led the team on an interim basis at the end of the 2025-26 season.
The appointment completed a month-long transition. Athletic director Jess Brinkerhoff announced on April 1 that Bill Evans would no longer serve as head coach and that Ralphs, then an assistant coach, would take over immediately as interim coach. By the end of April, the interim label was gone.
USU Eastern men's basketball head coach: Easton Ralphs
USU Eastern's April 30 announcement says Ralphs joined the program as an assistant coach and later served as associate head coach. The school identifies six years with the Eagles before the permanent appointment, a run that put Ralphs inside the program through recruiting, player development, and the staff transition.
That sequence is the clearest public record of the move: assistant coach, associate head coach, interim coach at the conclusion of the season, then head coach. The school did not announce a new outside hire or a broader reshuffling of the staff in the release reviewed for this story.
Brinkerhoff said the department considered what the program needed during the transition and concluded Ralphs had earned the full role through his interim work and long-term investment in the Eagles. The announcement places that decision in a program Ralphs already knew rather than a new system arriving in Price.
The April decision that opened the job
The timeline began with the April 1 leadership announcement. USU Eastern said Evans, who had been head coach since 2020, would no longer hold the position; the department thanked him for his work mentoring student-athletes and overseeing the program's growth and competitiveness during his tenure.
Ralphs became interim head coach effective immediately. The release gave him responsibility for the program while the department evaluated its next step, an important distinction in a change that was not yet a permanent appointment.
That evaluation lasted less than a month in the public record. The April 30 release made Ralphs the head coach and described the interim stretch as evidence that he was ready for the job's full responsibilities.
What Ralphs said about the next season
Ralphs framed the assignment as a commitment to build on the program's recent foundation. “I believe Utah State Eastern has the potential to be a premier program in the NJCAA, and I'm committed to helping us reach that level,” he said in the April 30 announcement.
The schedule for that first full season is now published. USU Eastern opens on October 31 at home against Western Wyoming Community College at the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center in Price, a 4 p.m. tip.
The role Ralphs held before the promotion
Ralphs' path through the staff is the central fact of this hire. The school credits him with work in recruiting and player development while he was an assistant and associate head coach, and says his existing relationships with current players positioned him to provide continuity during the interim period.
That makes the April 30 decision different from a reset built around a coach arriving with a new background and new staff. Ralphs has been part of the Eagles' daily work for six years; the department promoted the person who had already been asked to steady the program after the season.
Ralphs' first full season starts on Halloween
Three October jamborees come first, all listed as scrimmages: Las Vegas on October 3, the SLCC Jamboree in Salt Lake City on October 11, and the Rocky Mountain Jamboree from October 14-16.
The season proper opens with two home games in Price — Western Wyoming Community College on October 31 at 4 p.m., then Central Wyoming College on November 6 at 7 p.m. After that the Eagles leave Utah for most of a month.
November takes them to Henderson, Nevada for College of Southern Nevada on the 11th, then to Yuma, Arizona for Arizona Western on the 13th and Eastern Arizona on the 14th. A Texas trip follows, with Western Texas College on the 20th and Howard College on the 21st in Snyder, before Northeastern Junior College in Twin Falls, Idaho on the 27th. December opens with two more road games in Wyoming: Western Wyoming in Rock Springs on the 2nd and Central Wyoming in Riverton on the 3rd.
For a coach whose case rested on continuity, it is a schedule that will test the group away from home early.
Key facts:
- Head coach: Easton Ralphs
- Appointment announced: April 30, 2026
- Previous role: Interim head coach at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season
- Prior USU Eastern experience: Six years on staff; assistant coach and associate head coach
- Preceding change: Bill Evans left the head-coach role on April 1 after serving since 2020
- Next verification point: USU Eastern's official 2026-27 men's basketball roster and schedule
