One of the best to ever wear the Bulldog uniform, Everette Sands returns to the sidelines as an assistant coach working with the offensive skill positions.
Sands returns to his alma mater after spending the previous two years at Catawba College. He served his first season as the co-offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator, before taking over as offensive coordinator for the 2022 season. In 2021, Catawba led the country in punting with a 48.3 yard per punt average. The Indians featured a balanced attack in 2022 as they averaged 134.1 yards a game on the ground and 155.4 yards through the air.
His time at Catawba was preceded by a stint at Coastal Carolina.
Sands spent the 2016-18 seasons as the running backs coach at UTSA. In his three seasons, he helped the Roadrunners to their first two bowl games in school history.
In his first season in San Antonio, he mentored the potent one-two punch of Jarveon Williams and Jalen Rhodes who combined to rush for 2,104 yards and 22 touchdowns. Rhodes would go on to become UTSA’s all-time leading rusher.
The following season, his backs combined for 1,449 yards and eight touchdowns. Rhodes ran for 174 yards in a victory over Texas State as the Roadrunners set a single-game record for rushing yards (357) and total yards (569).
Prior to his time I Texas, Sands spent four years as the running backs coach for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina.
During his tenure with the Gamecocks, he mentored a pair of NFL Draft picks in Mike Davis and Marcus Lattimore, and recruited five ESPN Top 300 player to the program. He helped South Carolina to three bowl victories, back-to-back 11-win campaigns in 2012-13 and final rankings of No. 6 in 2013 and seventh in 2012.
Sands spent the 2011 campaign as the running backs coach at North Carolina State. In his lone season with the Wolfpack, his backs registered four individual 100-yard performances, the first time that had happened since 2007. He also was the program’s pro football liaison.
A native of Conway, S.C., Sands served two stints at The Citadel, first from 1999-2000 and again from 2005-10. During his second tenure, he coached three Southern Conference All-Freshman team selections and all-league performer Tory Cooper, who rushed for 1,041 yards and a school-record 19 touchdowns in 2007.
Between his stints at The Citadel, Sands coached the offensive backs at Ohio from 2001-04. One of his running backs, Chad Brinker, rushed for 1,099 yards en route to all-conference accolades in 2002.
Sands got into the coaching profession at the high school level in 1995 when he was at Sea Island Academy in Johns Island. At that time, he was considered to be the youngest head coach in the history of South Carolina high school football.
His first college coaching position came at Elon from 1996-98.
Sands also was an intern with the Carolina Panthers in 2000, the Seattle Seahawks in 2015 and both the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers in 2019, assisting the running backs and special teams.
Sands was a four-time All-Southern Conference running back at The Citadel where he ranks second all-time with 3,926 rushing yards and 16 career 100-yard rushing games. His is third all-time in all-purpose yards (3,977) and touchdowns (34), and fourth in points (204).
He garnered All-America accolades as a junior when he led The Citadel to a conference title and the school’s first 11-win season after rushing for 1,449 and 12 touchdowns.
In his collegiate career, Sands carried the ball 741 times without ever being tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
He served as a team captain in 1993 and was inducted into The Citadel Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.
Sands earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from The Citadel in 1993.
He and his wife, Yvette, have two sons, Everette III “Tre” and Josiah, and one daughter, Sierra.
