By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Covington Catholic football players attended their first team meeting with newly hired head coach Eddie Eviston on Tuesday and he seemed to make a good impression.
“It kind of seems like he’s willing to do whatever he can to win,” said Hunter Zieglemeyer, a sophomore tight end. “Some people aren’t sure yet, but I think a lot of players liked him. We’ll just have to see how it goes this year.”
Eviston is taking charge of a CovCath football program with a checkered past. After claiming their sixth state championship trophy in 2006, the Colonels haven’t been able to win more than two games in the state playoffs. They lost to Highlands in the state quarterfinals each of the last four years.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Eviston said he’s gong to do his best to break that cycle.
“I’m not going to guarantee anything. All I can say is we’re going to work hard,” he said. “I think I’ve been around enough winning programs both as a player and coach to understand the formula, to understand what it takes to reach every team’s ultimate goals.”
For the last two years, Eviston has been the offensive coordinator for the Georgetown College football team that averaged more than 500 all-purpose yards per game in both the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Before he took that job, he was head football coach at Newport Central Catholic High School, where his teams compiled a 35-8 record in three seasons and won two Class 2A state championships.
Eviston also had a successful playing career. He was starting quarterback at NewCath for two seasons and attended Georgetown on a football scholarship. He led the Tigers to two NAIA national championships and was named NAIA Player of the Year three times.
His impressive resume is the reason CovCath school officials offered Eviston the head coaching position. He said it was an opportunity he could not refuse.
“It made sense for my family first and foremost, and I’m just excited for all purposes to be a head coach again,” he said. “That was an important part that came into this decision as well.”
Eviston said his wife, Selina, has been driving from Georgetown to Cincinnati each weekday since getting a reassignment at work. By taking the coaching job at CovCath, he’ll be able to relocate his family and reduce his wife’s daily commute.
Eviston was also attracted by the challenge of making the CovCath football team a state championship contender once again, like its long-time district rival Highlands.
“I have lot of respect and admiration for what they do (at Highlands),” he said. “There’s a reason they win. They have a formula, there’s no doubt about it. And our goal is to match and to surpass that.”
Eviston, who is still putting together a staff of assistant coaches, said he will schedule spring practice sessions to get an early idea of his team’s level of talent. His first objective will be finding a quarterback to run the offense.
“We’ve got to take our quarterbacks and pinpoint their strengths and weakness and create the most advantageous situations to make sure they’re successful,” he said. “When your quarterback’s successful, your offense will be successful.”
Terry Boehmker, NKyTribune sports writer, is former sportswriter and editor for The Kentucky Post. He is an award-winning writer with extensive background in both print and digital. Reach him at terryboe@yahoo.com.