BY HALE MCGRAHANAN HOMETOWN NEWS Riverside High School Principal Andy Crowly kicked off the Steve Eoute era Thursday, announcing Eoute as the school’s new head football coach. Eoute takes over after serving six years as assistant head coach on the Riverside staff under Don Frost, who will coach Christ Church Episcopal School this fall. Before Eoute came to Riverside, he spent 13 years as an assistant at Hillcrest High School.” “I have been a defensive coordinator, head jayvee coach, an offensive and defensive line coach. You name it; I have done it over the years,” Eoute said, who also spent a year at D.R. Hill Middle School while in college. He takes over at a school that had traditionally been short on football success, but was never short on athletes. The challenge was only a matter of getting the best athletes out for football. “It is a well-rounded sports school. There are a lot of athletes here,” Frost said. “People have to realize, it’s not a football, baseball or soccer school. It’s got a little bit of everything.” Frost is happy to see the program left to an assistant from his staff. “It is a very wise decision. When you get something going in motion, and you get the participation we were fortunate enough to have, to keep it going---you keep it in-house,” he said. Like any new coach, Eoute plans to tweak the program somewhat, but he doesn’t plan on fixing what isn’t broken. In the past two years, the Warriors have won 18 games and made runs to the second and third round of the playoffs. “Over the last six years, I have been able to see the things that have worked for us, and the things that have not,” he said. “As of right now, there is no need to make any major changes in this program.” Although the Riverside defense graduated eight starters, Eoute spent the past four years coaching on the defensive side of the ball. He does plan to add a few wrinkles of his own to the defense, but doesn’t want to tip his hand to any of this fall’s opponents. The Riverside offense will be led by Matt Pegler, a three-year starter at quarterback. “We are really looking more for our offense to try to take this team forward this year,” he said. “We want the offense to step up. Pegler is an excellent quarterback. His leadership can help get this offense to where it needs to be.” Euote will continue to run the spread offense, but his main concern will be the ground game, which lost running back Micario Shaw. But Eoute isn’t buying into what some doubters are saying about the cycle of athletes at Riverside, “A lot of people aren’t taking Riverside for real…they say we’ll come back down to reality after a year or so.” First and foremost, Euote said he is a teacher. However, he understands his role as a football coach. “Teaching in the classroom should be a natural progression to the football field. The difference is, in the classroom, the kids have to be there. In football, they are volunteering to come out there,” he said. I think I have a greater opportunity to have an opportunity on their life. That is very big for me.”