University of Evansville Athletics

Kai Bates-Diop joined the University of Evansville as a Graduate Assistant for Sport Performance in June of 2025. He works directly with Men's Basketball, Men's and Women's Jumpers/Sprinters, and Men's and Women's Golf.
 
Kai started his career at Butler University as a Student Manager for the Men’s Basketball program. After working as a manager for 3 years, he worked as a Graduate Assistant for 1 year, specifically involved with scouting, player development, and day-to-day logistics.
 
After his time at Butler, Kai started his coaching journey in Evanston, IL, as a Sports Performance Intern at Northwestern during the summer of 2024. During this internship, he worked primarily with Men’s and Women’s Basketball, but assisted with volleyball, Men’s Tennis, Baseball, and Wrestling. Following his internship at Northwestern, he worked as a Strength & Conditioning Coach at Transform Fit Club.

At Transform Fit Club, Kai gained experience with athlete and general population clients. While working at Transform Fit Club, Kai pursued a Master’s in Kinesiology with a Sports Psychology focus while working as a Graduate Assistant at the UIC Student Recreation Facility. In addition, Kai worked with the UIC ROTC by programming weekly workouts for the cadets to prepare for the ACFT (Army Combat Fitness Test). He completed his Master’s program at UIC in May of 2025.
 
Kai received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a Minor in Spanish from Butler University in December of 2022. He holds the CSCS certification through the NSCA.