Former teammates, longtime friends are now rivals for a state championship
Saturday’s prime-time kickoff between Frederick Douglass and Covington Catholic for the Class 5A state football championship brings together two close friends — head coaches who will stand on the opposite sidelines for the very first time after spending years wearing the same colors.
Douglass’s Brian Landis and Covington Catholic’s Eddie Eviston both hail from Georgetown College. They were teammates on its 2000 NAIA national champions.
Later, they were assistants at Georgetown from 2012 to 2014 where they had offices across a hall and ate lunch together daily.
Now, they talk to each other by phone weekly.
“We knew it could be something that could come down the road,” Eviston said of Saturday’s game. The Broncos joined CovCath in Class 5A this season. “We talked about it, that we could see each other in the state championship. Now, here we are and it’s happening. I’m excited for him and what he’s done with the program in just three years.”
Eviston’s career track took him home to Newport Central Catholic where he won state titles as a head coach in 2010 and 2012 before returning to Georgetown to become the Tigers’ offensive coordinator for a couple of seasons. He took the CovCath job in 2015 and won a state title with the Colonels in his third season, a feat his friend hopes to match on Saturday. This is Douglass’s third year as a program under Landis’ stewardship, and its first trip to a championship game.
“It’ll be fun competing against him,” Landis said. “He’s done such a great job at CovCath and anywhere he goes, he wins. That’s been kind of the running joke. When we were at Georgetown, he was three-time national player of the year, won two national titles and now it’s like, ‘ah, shoot, here we go.’”
There’s no hint of jealousy from Landis. Smiling at the mention of Eviston, he’s clearly proud of his friend. While Eviston was racking up high school state titles, Landis remained in the college ranks as a longtime assistant at Georgetown and later stints with Eastern Kentucky and Kentucky.
Their mentor, Georgetown Coach Bill Cronin, will be at the game. He just doesn’t know where he’s going to sit.
“I told my wife I’ve got to find me a jersey or something where I can have half and half,” Cronin said. “I’m not sure how I come up with that yet.”
Landis and Eviston were team captains for Cronin as players, and Landis was a graduate assistant coach in 2001 when Eviston led the Tigers to another national title at quarterback.
While Cronin has an extensive coaching tree in the state, he doesn’t recall a time when two of his former players have gone head-to-head for a state title.
“It’s special for everybody that knows the two of them, because they’re such great friends. They’re truly best friends, and even when they were here at Georgetown, they were so competitive, so committed to what they were doing. It’s great to see them have the success they’re having,” Cronin said.
Landis said he owes everything to Cronin, from who he is as a person to how he coaches his team. Cronin deflected credit.
“To be honest with you, I think I learned more from them. I mean that,” Cronin said. “They were just such passionate people about the game and about how to compete.”
On Saturday, Cronin expects the two will leave the game laughing and smiling as they always did as teammates and colleagues — just enjoying the competition on the field.
“I’m going to love him, regardless,” Landis said of his now-rival Eviston. “I hope he feels the same. But with that being said, I still want to beat the brakes off him. It’s going to be tough, man. He’s such a good coach.”
State championships
At Kroger Field in Lexington
Friday
Class A: Paintsville (11-3) vs. Pikeville (13-0), 2 p.m.
Class 3A: Belfry (10-3) vs. Bell County (14-0), 7 p.m.
Saturday
Class 2A: Mayfield (13-1) vs. Somerset (13-1), 1 p.m.
Class 4A: Boyle County (14-0) vs. Johnson Central (14-0), 4:30 p.m.
Class 5A: Covington Catholic (14-0) vs. Frederick Douglass (14-0), 8 p.m.
Sunday
Class 6A: Male (14-0) vs. Trinity (12-2), 2 p.m.
