Wife of Georgia's new athletic director preparing for change

By The Associated Press

Posted 12:45PM on Saturday 29th May 2004 ( 21 years ago )

She's a nurse in the intensive care nursery at a local hospital, a mother of two, and one of the biggest supporters of the University of Georgia's new athletic director.Kerri Evans is preparing the family for husband Damon Evans' new job and a more high-profile role."There's going to be a lot to do. I know that. Things are going to change, but ... it has to be kept normal," she said with an arm around her 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Kennedy, while sitting in her home in Athens.Damon Evans will become UGA's athletic director on July 1, succeeding football coaching legend Vince Dooley, who six years ago hired Evans, a former Georgia football player with a background in finance and sports management, and eyed him as his replacement.Evans will make history as the Southeastern Conference's first black athletic director and the youngest at a Division-IA school at 34 years old.He was named the head of the athletic department in December, ending months of speculation over who would replace the popular Dooley after University President Michael Adams angered some Bulldogs fans by refusing to extend Dooley's contract.Kerri Evans said she never doubted that her husband was capable of becoming Georgia's next AD, although November and December were stressful as the search committee interviewed and narrowed down the finalists."I was confident that he could do it and get the job, but you just never knew what decision they would make," she said. "It was horrible."They received well wishes from friends and strangers, but what was unnerving at times were some negative remarks heard by others. Some said that while Evans was the right person for the job, Adams would never hire him because of his close ties to Dooley."Everyone had an opinion. We didn't want to hear anything," she said.She had to endure a few more hours of public speculation after her husband called her on her cell phone to tell her he got the job, but then told her the news had to be kept quiet until a news conference the next day."I went to a lunch and people were still saying, 'When do you think you'll hear?' I said, 'Oh I don't know, they said the end of the week,'" she said. "By the evening, it had gotten out. Our phone rang until midnight. But we were excited, we didn't mind."When the couple got married in 1996 in Atlanta, Kerri knew her husband had "big, big goals.""I don't have those kinds of goals," she said. "I wanted to be a nurse but those are pretty attainable goals."They met each other while students at UGA in 1991, and with little spare cash and no cars, spent many of their dates at the Science Library where Kerri worked. Kerri graduated with a degree in education in 1992 and earned her nursing degree from Emory University in 1994.Kerri, 33, works two 12-hour shifts a week at Athens Regional Medical Center, caring for extremely premature babies. She plans to fit in her shifts around her husband's schedule and the demands of the athletic department as well as her children, Cameron, 5, and Kennedy.With a month before Damon Evans officially becomes AD, the family is making a few preparations. Their house is for sale so they can move into a bigger home. Kerri plans to do more entertaining and looks forward to traveling with her husband to away football games and other events.The new status that goes with her husband's new job, including people lining up for his autograph, "doesn't seem real," she said.Kerri is a well-grounded, genuine person whose family takes precedence, said former college roommate Denise Brown. "The celebrity and the status, yeah, that's going to come with the position, but it's not going to change her," she said.She had not yet determined what type of role she will have as she follows Barbara Dooley, whose work as a candidate for public office, radio talk show host, author, motivational speaker and advocate of various causes made her a household name among Georgia fans."I'm not Barbara Dooley," she says, as her daughter Kennedy offers, "You're Kerri.""Things are going to be different. But that's why I think it's important to keep my job because I just can't be Mrs. Damon Evans," she said. "I need my own identity. I'm his wife, their mother. I have to go out and do something on my own."Damon Evans said he believes that she will help cultivate relationships with athletic department donors and potential donors, and carve out her own identity."She's vital to me doing my job. She will help me grow the athletic association," he said. "She's been very significant in helping me sit back, make proper decisions."Barbara Dooley said Kerri has what a wife needs in this business."She has the stability that it takes. She has the faith that she needs. She is totally committed to Damon," she said. "If I had to give her any advice at all if would just be to be yourself."Evans said she knows there could be backlash from fans because of her husband's decisions and even the possibility of racial remarks."People are going to be watching everything that he does, everything that we do," she said. "Whether the person that was chosen for the job was white, black or Asian, they're going to be looked at closely anyway. Damon will do his job perfect, no matter the color he is."Barbara Dooley said the only thing that will bother Kerri is if her husband starts feeling down about his performance."But I don't think Damon will," she said. "They're both just very happy, easygoing people. They're very young but they don't give you that appearance of being young."Evans believes one of her husband's biggest challenges will be getting people in the athletic department to see him as the director."They're so used to coach Dooley being there. ... Coach Dooley has allowed him to do so much that he practically is doing the job now," she said. "He knows how to run the athletic department, and people may not know that."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/5/167971