You see, on this particularly oppressive evening in Riverside, only two coaches are allowed in Crescenta Valley's dugout, as some quirky rule enforces for teams with less than 13 players. So Eberhart finds himself in his comfortable seat — an assistant coach on the outside looking in.
It makes little difference, he still does his share of coaching, anyway.
That's what he does, he coaches. And along the way, he runs himself ragged trying to spend every possible moment coaching — and most importantly, spending time with his kids.
"Nerve-wise, it's easier for me to be on the chair," he says. "I can still run a lot of the game from there."
You see, dugout or not, sideline or not, you can't take the coaching out of the coach.
Evidence enough is a summer like this one.
Eberhart will officially begin his 14th season as the Crescenta Valley High football coach on Sept. 8 in a game against La Canada.
Of course Eberhart and his Falcon coaching staff are fast at work much earlier than September.
And, Eberhart, as part of Coach Jim Siepler's Major Softball staff, happens to be fast at work coaching softball at that same time.
It makes for quite a day for Eberhart.
He has summer school until noon.
From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., he's the head coach of the Falcons football team on 100 yards of FieldTurf.
From 5:30 p.m. to roughly 8 p.m., he's the assistant coach of the Major Softball team on Crescenta Valley High's diamond.
"Everything's there [at Crescenta Valley]," Eberhart says.
"I'm not running all over the place."
Apparently convenience has another definition in Eberhart's case and, most assuredly, a 24-hour day has a lot more possibilities.
"He'll spend… hours on the football field and schedule a softball practice right after," says junior varsity football coach and Major Softball assistant Chuck Gunter.
