To say that Rip Eveland is the only football coach on Carencro’s staff to be around for all three of the Golden Bears’ state finals trips to the Superdome wouldn’t do his story justice.

When Eveland arrived at Carencro High in the fall of 1981, competing for a state football championship was about as much within the realm of possibility as the Super Bowl was for the 1-15 paper-bag New Orleans Saints the year before.

The senior class Eveland walked into hadn’t won a single football game during their entire careers and it didn’t get any better for them that fall either.

Five years later, though, Eveland was on Pat Kee’s staff that went 8-2 and tied for a district championship.

Seven years after that, Eveland helped Mac Barousse win Lafayette Parish’s first state football title with a 28-27 overtime win over Neville.

Four years later, Barousse, Eveland and new group of Bears were back in the Superdome, but fell to West Monroe 24-21.

And now 15 years later, Eveland is still up the press box doing his part on Brent Indest’s staff as Carencro returns to the Superdome for Saturday’s 7 p.m. showdown with West Monroe.

While Eveland, whose given first name is actually Roland, said he doesn’t really live in the past, he’s never forgotten that first taste of victory.

"I’m excited about it," Eveland said. "It feels like the first one to me. I felt like we had a chance to make a run. Every year, that’s our goal — to get to the Dome and win a state championship. Now when you’ve been doing it for a long time, sometimes you know you don’t really have much of a shot."

Truthfully, it’s been a matter of perspective for Eveland since day one at Carencro.

Eveland recollected a moment during Carencro’s first resurgence under Kee in the mid-1980s where a contending Bears’ team suffered a tough loss late in the fourth period of a pivotal game.

"The kids cried after that game," Eveland said. "I remember coach Kee commenting that at least we got to the point where they cried when we lost, because when we first got here, they were crying when we won."

Then just as the Bears began to learn how to win, Eveland endured another layer of insight — this one about himself.

Kee left the program and Eveland put his name on the list to replace him. Mike Ortego instead got the job, which Eveland kept in the back of his mind until one day at practice.

"One day, we had a really chaotic practice with fights and all kinds of problems," he said. "When my head hit the pillow that night, I thanked God that I wasn’t hired as the head coach."

Sure, he thought about it a few more times since then, but for the most part, Eveland accepted his role in the world of high school football — as an assistant coach.

"Yep," he said. "Head coaches get fired."

Over the years, Eveland’s primary duty has been coaching the offensive line — and was the program’s offensive coordinator for many years.

And to him, it’s really all about the same whether it’s Barousse’s power option attack or Indest’s Wing-T.

"Both are just trying to create a seam in the defense," Eveland said. "I really like his (Indest’s) offense. If I had to do it, I might add two more options, but it would pretty much be this offense.

"Blocking-wise, it’s not difficult. A down block is a down block."

Once the 1990s really got going strong, Eveland was a relatively laid-back part of a powerhouse Carencro program very far removed from the perennial laughingstocks the Memphis, Tenn., native walked into back in 1981.

The Bears enjoyed almost two straight decades of postseason play, spitting out All-Stater after All-Stater.

But while many of those memories are still vivid in his mind, Eveland said the 2011 version of the Bears don’t hear about them much from him.

"These kids weren’t even born when we won the state championship," Eveland said. "Every once in a while they’ll ask us what all of those pictures are about."

Then in 2003, perspective reached a new level when the Bears were playing in the state semifinals on the same night that his son, Rob, was playing in the state semifinals for Vermilion Catholic. Carencro lost at Hahnville that night, however, and VC went on to win that program’s first state football title.

"I thought we were really going to the Dome that year," Eveland said. "I really thought both of us were going to get there, but it was cool seeing him win it."

But soon after that missed opportunity, Eveland would be under a different head coach in Lance Guidry, who took the Bears to the quarterfinals in 2005, but then some lean years followed.

To Eveland, both the winning and the losing years, helped him appreciate how special the glory years are.

Amazingly, that’s a lesson he’d learned from his earliest days in Cajun Country. Eveland came to South Louisiana to play offensive line for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns in 1973.

The Cajuns went 0-10 that first season, only to later see Augie Tammariello get UL to 9-2 in 1976 and 6-4-2 in 1977 in Eveland’s final two years.

"I really think it’s a little of both (winning and losing) that helps you appreciate winning," he said.

"I’ve really enjoyed all the coaches I worked for. There are a lot of similarities between them. Everybody has personality differences, but they all had a lot of energy and a lot of passion."

Through it all, Eveland’s stayed in the background without a lot of fanfare.

"I’m an offensive lineman," he said. "That’s what we do."

Athletic Network Footnote:

Please click here for Coach Eveland’s Athletic Network profile.

Please click here for Coach Eveland and his 1974 teammates.