by Scott Sacry, Sports Editor
Stevensville head tennis coach Bill Everett was awarded the Class A Boys Tennis Coach of the Year by the Montana Coaches Association. Everett holds the 2025 Boys State 2nd place trophy. Photo courtesy of Bill Everett.
Stevensville tennis and Bill Everett seem inseparable. Like knowledge and power or peanut butter and jelly, when you think of one, you automatically think of the other.
Everett became the head tennis coach for Stevensville High School in 1989, back when Boris Becker won Wimbledon and Steffi Graf won the US Open. Everett has been the Stevensville coach ever since, save 1993, when he took a year off.
Fast forward to the 2025 season. Everett led the Stevensville boys tennis team to a 2025 Western A Divisional Championship and a Class A State Runner-up trophy. On May 30, Everett was named the 2025 Class A Boys Tennis Coach of the Year by the Montana Coaches Association.
“I really enjoyed the kids this year,” said Everett. “We had a big group of kids and the parents were very supportive. There were over 45 people at our end of the year awards banquet. It was a great season.”
Before moving to Montana in the 1980s, Everett taught tennis in Texas for 15 years. “I figure I’ve been teaching tennis for over 55 years,” said Everett. “And I kind of fell into the Stevensville job.”
In the late 80s, the current Stevensville tennis coach brought Everett in to help the kids. When the old coach left, Stevensville’s AD at the time, John Monk, offered him the position. Everett was also a teacher at Stevensville from 1998 to 2012, when he retired from teaching.
Stevensville head tennis coach Bill Everett with the Stevensville girls 1998 State Championship team. Photo courtesy of Bill Everett.
One might wonder what keeps Everett coming back. “The kids are great, and I got attached to the Stevensville community right away,” said Everett. “We used to play on the old courts at Lewis and Clark park until they finished the new courts in 1992 and 1993.”
Those new courts from the 1990s are now in disrepair, and the team can’t host home games. The STARS Foundation in Stevensville is leading a movement to raise money for new facilities.
“The kids didn’t complain about the old court in the early 90s, and the kids today don’t complain about the old courts now, they just go out there and have fun,” said Everett. “But it’s too bad the kids can’t have home matches, and it would be nice for the seniors to have senior night on a home court.”
Everett and Stevensville tennis have had their ups and downs over the years. The boys were State Champions in 1992 and 1996, runners up in 1993, 1994, 2012 and 2025, and third in 1998. The girls team were State Champions in 1998. “This is still the only girls team in Stevi history to have won a girls team state title,” said Everett.
In 2022, Everett had only three boys and four girls on the team. “A couple more years like that and I’m not sure if they would have kept the program,” said Everett. “The last couple of years we have had very good numbers, and we have been able to field full, competitive divisional teams.”
Not only did Everett win the 2025 Class A Boys Tennis Coach of the Year, but Hamilton’s head tennis coach Bryan Dufresne won the 2025 Class A Girls Tennis Coach of the Year. Dufresne was a player for Everett at Stevensville in the early 1990s.
“I owe my love of the game to him,” said Dufresne. “He allowed us to have fun, and he made me want to play in the off season and get better. I always loved how much he truly cared for his players. He loves the sport and he loves the kids.”
Dufresne continued, “Now that we are coaches and peers, I still feel like I’m his player and he is my coach. He instilled in me the importance of creating a ‘level of joy’ for the players. He truly deserves this award.”
After 36 years of coaching, Everett is still looking forward.
“I have some years left in me,” said Everett. “We have some good young players coming up and I have high hopes for the future.”
Bob Gensemer says
For ten years (or more) I played tennis will Bill Everett. I am an experienced player but he would occasionally offer timely suggestions about my game. His helpful nature was always there, even during competition. Two years ago my wife and I moved to Virginia. I still play tennis. I am 88 years old.
James Enzler says
So proud of Bill. He taught me so much when I played at Stevi from 2009-2012. I now coach tennis at the collegiate level and to this day, still think of him as one of the best coaches I’ve ever met. Such a humble guy.