Columbus East graduate Eric Crouch, left, and former Owen Valley safety Bryer LeCocq hold the Black and Blue trophy after the Patriots beat Edgewood Sept. 10, 2021 at Owen Valley.
Submitted photo
After graduating from Columbus East in 2006, Eric Crouch knew he did not want to continue playing football.
But that fall, when he began classes at Indiana University, Crouch took a job as offensive line coach at Edgewood High School. Now, 18 years later, he has his first head coaching job.
Crouch recently was hired to take over the Owen Valley program after serving as an assistant there the past six years.
A former offensive tackle at East, Crouch was a starter as a junior on the 2004 team that made it to the semistate.
“After high school, I was done with football, and (former Edgewood coach) Jerry Bland asked me if I wanted to coach,” Crouch said. “It’s a fulfilling job when you can see a young man develop over four years. It wasn’t until I got back to Owen Valley when I thought about being a head coach. When we came back in ‘18, over the next couple of years, I’ve thought about it and have been working toward that ever since.”
Crouch spent seven years at Edgewood before moving to North Carolina and then Kentucky with his girlfriend, who was working an athletic trainer. Eric and Ali Crouch married and moved back to Bloomington, and she now is an athletic trainer at IU.
After serving as offensive line coach at Owen Valley in 2018, Crouch has been defensive coordinator since 2019. He helped former coach Rob Gibson lead the Patriots to 10-2 and 12-1 seasons and back-to-back Class 3A sectional titles in 2021 and 2022.
Owen Valley slipped to 3-7 under Joe White last season. When White took a job as strength coach at Mooresville earlier this summer, Crouch was the natural choice to take over the Patriot program.
“I’ve been coaching for 14 years, and I’ve put my hat in the ring a couple of times, and it hasn’t worked out, but it all worked out this time,” Crouch said. “I’m very humbled that our athletic director and principal came to me and wanted me to become our head coach. I have a very good relationship with our admin, so it’s a very good opportunity.”
Since he already was an assistant, Crouch doesn’t think getting such a late start in preparation for the season will be a detriment.
“Every football season is a challenge,” Crouch said. “But the generic motto is, ‘Next man up.’ Offense and defense was getting installed throughout the summer. A lot of our coaching staff is still here. Really, the biggest challenge is getting all the things that come with being a head coach and trying to be organized.”
Owen Valley, which opens the regular season Aug. 23 against Brown County, has about 40 players. The Patriots had close to 60 on the roster during their productive 2021-22 stretch.
“We’ve had some really successful teams,” Crouch said. “The big thing with taking over a coaching position is making sure all levels of the program are all in sync and working together. Really making sure that we can have a sense of familiarity. There’s always highs and lows, so you have to take the good with the bad.”
