From Lehigh to Chapel Hill: Evan Henderson’s Unexpected Path to UNC Assistant Coach

Chapel Hill, NC— Evan Henderson returned to UNC Chapel Hill as an assistant wrestling coach under Rob Koll after a series of coaching changes created the ideal opportunity. The two-time Tar Heel All-American from 2013 and 2014 was still at Lehigh when the process began. "If you asked me however long ago when I came down that that was even possible. I'd have been like, you're crazy," Henderson said. "A couple things had to happen for everything to fall into place. And, like, well, to my benefit, they did."

Lehigh hired Sammy Sasso during Henderson's tenure there, but parted ways with Sasso due to legal matters—though charges were ultimately dropped. The Mountain Hawks then recruited two-time NCAA champion Vincenzo Joseph from UNC's Tar Heel Regional Training Center. That shift left the RTC position open, which Henderson accepted after visiting Chapel Hill over Labor Day weekend to work out with the team. "Not necessarily a formal interview or anything like that," he said. Weeks later, "he's like, hey, do you want this position? I'm like, absolutely," Henderson added, describing Koll's invitation to join the UNC coaching staff as a full assistant coach.

Moving his family from Pennsylvania was challenging, but coaching at his alma mater made it an easy call. "It does mean a lot to me to come back and coach at my alma mater. I never thought that this was going to happen," he said. Chapel Hill is "the place that made me," where he became UNC's first All-American since 2005 after a slower start out of high school. Those five years—navigating academics, athletics, and social demands, then earning All-American honors twice before a 10-year international career—are the experiences he'll share with the current roster.

The jump from Lehigh positioned him to mentor wrestlers on those realities up close. "I've been through the school. I was here for five years and I know what it's about. And though I had a different coaching regime at that time, I mean, it's like this great school that I'm at is a beast in itself," Henderson said. "You have your academics, your athletics, and your social life. And it's something you have to balance. And it's like some of these guys, when they come in, they're not necessarily thinking of all that stuff." He intends for them to benefit directly from his path. "Everything that I did wrong and right, bringing it back to the program... learn from my mistakes," he stated. "Coming out of high school, I probably most likely underperformed in college."

Toughness anchors his philosophy. "This sport's tough and you got to be tough to do it. And it ain't, it's not gonna, it's not easy. All this hard work that you do is no guarantee for success," Henderson said. "I mean, you can have a guy down the street doing God knows what and not doing anything right, we could do everything right and we could still lose. So, it's like that's where that toughness comes in and having that, like, being able to get knocked down and get back up on the horse and go at it again."

Henderson specialized in top-position wrestling and pinning during his career, and he plans to emphasize that right away. "I was really good on top, you know? I was really good at pinning people," he said. "You're never out of the match if you're pinning people. And that's kind of something I want instilling these guys."

Lehigh highlighted how individualized coaching pays off. "Everybody takes at a different rate, you know, everybody has their, these, like, everybody's an individual in some sense, right? It's not a cookie cutter," Henderson said. "I finally had a eureka moment with one of my guys last year, (Sheldon) Seymour, when he finally became an All-American... And he finally looked at me and was like, Dang, you were right about XYZ."

UNC's trajectory aligns with his goals. "Raising the standard is like our, but what we want to be the standard is we want to be in that top five. We want to be chasing them. We want to be chasing a team trophy," he said. In early dual prep, he's seen potential already. During an ACC dual loss to Pitt, "seven out of ten were freshmen" in the starting lineup. "The future is bright," Henderson added. Matches like that lead back to fundamentals. "Reaction time was low and followed by a lack of sprawling... We gotta do fundamental," he said. "You need to be able to sprawl, period."

Family proximity—his brother and sister live nearby—helped after years of relocating for wrestling. Learning from Koll adds value too. "He's a very good recruiter... He's picked two of the four-timers right? (Cornell University) ... Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. Then after that, it goes into fundraising, and then after that, it finally is the development," Henderson said.

He seeks recruits built for the fight. "I'm looking for them to be tough... Having that grit. And that's another thing. It's like we don't. I mean, I feel kids these days don't have as much grit as they once did," he stated. Back at UNC, Henderson is set to cultivate just that.