Over Christopher Kovatch's 25-year career in education, he has served as a head coach or assistant coach in football, basketball, track, cross-country and baseball. He is the head cross-country coach, assistant track coach and head boys basketball coach at Carencro High School, as well as an English II teacher.
Kovatch has worked to transform Carencro High, once known as a football power, to a perennial playoff team in basketball. He inherited the boys basketball team in 1999 and has been the coach ever since. He was the Louisiana 4A Coach of the Year in 2018, after capturing the school’s first basketball state championship.
He serves as the first vice president for the Louisiana High School Basketball Coaches Association and the second vice president of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association. Kovatch and his wife, Doni, reside in Lafayette and have two children: Ethan, 21, a junior majoring in applied biology and playing soccer at Louisiana Christian University, and Ava, 16, a sophomore 4.0 student at Lafayette High, who competes in school cheer, competitive cheer and track and field.
Did you play any sports in college? In college, I was a javelin thrower at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I was a football and track guy in high school. I was a basketball kid from an early age, but going to a bigger high school, I phased out.
With your experience as a player and a coach, how would you define sportsmanship? One of the things that we always emphasize is doing something that our family is going to be proud of. For us, family is a big emphasis in our program. What that means to us is the people that we have at home, the people who are responsible for us and that we are responsible for. Carencro head coach Christopher Kovatch, center, talks to the team during a time out in the Northside high school boyÕs basketball game at Northside High School on Friday, January 22, 2021 in Lafayette, La..STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP In the same token, we're the Carencro Bears. We talk about the Bear that came in front of me, the Bear that's next to me and the Bear that will come after me — we want to leave that sort of legacy.
We have four pillars of our program: loyalty, leave a place better than you found it, treat others the way you want to be treated and little things make the difference. We really try to emphasize those in everything that we do.
We want to walk out of places, wherever we play, and have people say that we played the game the right way — to have officials say that they enjoyed calling our games. We try to teach our kids how to talk to the officials — that's all part of it. I think that all falls into the ball of sportsmanship.
What are some of the lessons that you find yourself teaching year after year? I think one of the biggest things is to hone in on the full character and physical development of these kids. It's not just me; it's all of the assistants and other guys that I work with.
That being said, character is one of the big things at the forefront of that, and with that comes the academic end — doing the right things when nobody's looking. It's cliché, and lots of people say they want to do it or that's what it's all about, but I know that we bust our rear end to really try to do it.
Especially in today's world, we've had a lot of kids in the last five years who have either quit or transferred schools and tried to find greener grass on the other side of the fence — I think that's the microcosm of the sports world today. You see it in college with the transfer portal.
We have that philosophy that the ball's going to stop bouncing at some point, and it's a whole lot bigger than just what's going on on that field, the track, the court, etc.
Do you have a moment in your career that you're most proud of? There have definitely been highlights along the way. It's hard not to say that anytime a kid earns a state championship that's not a huge deal. I've been blessed, being at Carencro, to be able to work with a lot of state champions in track and cross-country. I've worked with multiple NFL players, a few professional college athletes, but winning a state basketball championship has got to be at the top of everything.
Over Christopher Kovatch's 25-year career in education, he has served as a head coach or assistant coach in football, basketball, track, cross country and baseball. He is currently the head cross country coach, assistant track coach and head boys basketball coach at Carencro High School, as well as an English II teacher.PROVIDED PHOTO by Scott Clause We won in 2018, and I think so many things have to happen to win a state championship in high school basketball. You have to have the players, first and foremost, and you've got to have a good system. That falls on the coach. There's so many little things. You have to have kids who have good sportsmanship, who are good citizens — who have to like each other, too. A lot of people underestimate that little fact that the chemistry has to be good. The parents have a great impact on the season, too. When you win a state high school basketball championship and you're not at a power factory basketball school, it's an incredible treasure.
Who's a coach that inspires you? Honestly, there's been a few. My head track coach in college, Charles Lancon, he's been deceased for a while now — he was just always that calm presence that was always there for everybody. I think so many people kind of considered him a second dad because most people at that point in their lives aren't from the same town that they're going to school in. Another one of my coaches in college, Irving Boo Schexnayder, is a legendary collegiate track coach. One of the things that set him apart to me was how brilliant he was. He's a legend in his field, and one of the reasons why is his knowledge. I think that's one of the things that had a big impact on me just because he taught me so much.
One of the guys who's responsible for getting me at Carencro High School, way back when, was the football coach at the time, Matt Barousse. He probably had one of the biggest impacts on me in terms of coaching. That goes from a preparation standpoint and intensity in practice.
Then I was blessed to work with my dad, Albert Kovatch, for a few years. He made me a much more organized coach
What's your favorite thing about sports in general? It's life. It is the easiest way to prepare others for life. I was talking with a former athlete a while back who was going through some rough times. I told him, "Now you understand why we said how minuscule basketball is." As hard as it seems in the moment for a 16- or 17-year-old kid, it's nothing in terms of the bigger picture.
I think that's one of the things that helps us be consistently decent in basketball: we're always emphasizing that being a basketball player is relatively easy. Being a good son, brother, human being, worker, a boss — one day — those are hard things. Dealing with a turnover or a missed layup is pretty easy, but dealing with a loved one with cancer is hard. So, I just think it's the greatest avenue that we can use to try to help others become the people that they want to be, ultimately.
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