Ron McBride

Ron McBride (born October 14, 1939)[1] is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Utah from 1990 to 2002 and at Weber State University from 2005 to 2011, compiling a career college football record of 131–101.

For other people named Ron McBride, see Ron McBride (disambiguation).
Ron McBride
Biographical details
Born (1939-10-14) October 14, 1939
South Gate, California
Playing career
1959–1962San Jose State
?San Jose Apaches
Position(s)Linebacker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1965San Jose State (FR/DC/LB)
1966–1968Piedmont Hills HS (CA) (DC)
1969–1971Gavilan JC (OC/OL)
1972–1973UC Riverside (OC)
1974–1976Long Beach State (OC)
1977–1982Utah (OC)
1983–1984Wisconsin (OL)
1985–1986Utah (OL)
1987–1989Arizona (OL)
1990–2002Utah
2003–2004Kentucky (LB)
2005–2011Weber State
2013Utah Blaze (OL)
2016Portland Steel (OL)
2017Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (AHC)
Head coaching record
Overall131–101
Bowls3–3
Tournaments1–2 (NCAA D-I playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 WAC (1995)
1 MWC (1999)
1 Big Sky (2008)

A native of Los Angeles, McBride was an all-city football and baseball standout at South Gate High School. He graduated from San Jose State University where he played for the Spartans from 1959 to 1962 and served as team captain his senior year. He later played professionally with the San Jose Apaches of the USA League.

Coaching career

McBride began his coaching career at San Jose State in 1965, serving as the freshman coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He then spent two years as an assistant coach at Piedmont Hills High School (1966–1968) and three years as an assistant at Gavilan College (1969–1971), before returning to the NCAA ranks.

From 1972 to 1973, he served as an assistant coach at University of California, Riverside, where he was in charge of the offensive line and served as offensive coordinator. He then served in the same capacities at California State University, Long Beach from 1974 to 1976.

McBride first came to Utah in 1977 to serve as the offensive line coach and offensive coordinator under Wayne Howard at Utah. In 1983, he accepted a position as the offensive line coach at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served two seasons before returning to Salt Lake City, coaching the offensive line from 1985 to 1986 under head coach Jim Fassel.

In 1987, he left the Utes to join Dick Tomey's staff at the University of Arizona. He served two years as the offensive line coach and was elevated to assistant head coach during the 1989 season. Following that season he became the head coach at Utah.

Head coach at Utah

McBride inherited a program that had only had five winning seasons in the previous 16 years, and had not posted a winning season in Western Athletic Conference play since 1985. He didn't take long to turn the program around. In 1991, his second season, he posted a 7–5 record, but a blowout loss to rival BYU kept them out of a bowl. A year later, he led the Utes to the 1992 Copper Bowl, the program's first bowl appearance in 28 years. He took the Utes to six bowl games during his tenure, a noteworthy feat considering the Utes had played in just three bowl games in the previous 97 years. His teams posted bowl wins over USC, Arizona and Fresno State.

"Utah was a soft program, an underachieving program and a program that was going nowhere. Their expectations weren't that high. When they hired me they said, 'Well, if you cannot embarrass us against BYU and be in about the middle of the league, and be respectable you can stay here as long as you want.' The bar was low. The expectations were they just didn't want to get embarrassed on Saturday."
— McBride on the state of Utah football when he took over.[2]

His best season came in 1994 when the Utes won a then-record 10 games and attained the highest post-season ranking, at the time, in school history climbing to No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 10 in the AP poll. In conference games, he guided the Utes to a 58–42 record and won a share of two conference championships, 1995 in the Western Athletic Conference and 1999 in the Mountain West Conference. McBride excelled in the rivalry games within the state of Utah. His Utes held their own against perennial power BYU; winning six of their last 11 against the Cougars after losing 16 of the previous 18 before he took over. He also dominated Utah State (11–2). In 1998, he was a serious candidate to take over the moribund program at Hawaii, a position that eventually went to June Jones.[3]

McBride's tenure at Utah began to falter in 2000. The Utes were the favorites to win the Mountain West after tying for the conference title a year earlier, but lost their first four games en route to a 4–7 record, their first losing record since McBride's arrival. Season-ticket sales fell 15% as a result, problematic given the costly rebuilding of Rice-Eccles Stadium, and pressure rose to fire McBride.[4] The Utes rebounded in 2001, achieving a winning record and scoring an upset win in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl over the USC Trojans in Pete Carroll's first season. With the Utes slipping again into a losing season, McBride was fired by Utah after the 2002 season and replaced by Urban Meyer.[2] Despite the inglorious end to McBride's tenure, he is credited with laying the foundation for Utah's rise to national prominence under Meyer and his former defensive coordinator, Kyle Whittingham.

During his tenure at Utah, McBride posted an overall record of 88–63 (.582), at the time the second-most wins in the history of Utah football. He is now third, behind Ike Armstrong and Whittingham.

After Utah

After leaving Utah, McBride took over as the inside linebacker coach at Kentucky in 2003. He returned to the state of Utah in 2004, when he was named head football coach at Weber State University. The Weber State Wildcats are a NCAA Division I-AA team that play in the Big Sky Conference.

Head coaching record
Year Team Overall ConferenceStanding Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP/TSN°
Utah Utes (Western Athletic Conference) (1990–1998)
1990 Utah 4–72–67th
1991 Utah 7–54–44th
1992 Utah 6–64–4T–5thL Copper
1993 Utah 7–65–34thL Freedom
1994 Utah 10–26–2T–2ndW Freedom810
1995 Utah 7–46–2T–1st
1996 Utah 8–46–2T–2nd (Mountain)L Copper
1997 Utah 6–55–3T–2nd (Mountain)
1998 Utah 7–45–3T–3rd (Pacific)
Utah Utes (Mountain West Conference) (1999–2002)
1999 Utah 9–35–2T–1stW Las Vegas
2000 Utah 4–73–4T–5th
2001 Utah 8–44–3T–3rdW Las Vegas
2002 Utah 5–63–4T–5th
Utah: 88–6358–42
Weber State Wildcats (Big Sky Conference) (2005–2010)
2005 Weber State 6–54–3T–4th
2006 Weber State 4–73–5T–6th
2007 Weber State 5–64–45th
2008 Weber State 10–47–11stL NCAA Division I Quarterfinal97
2009 Weber State 7–56–22ndL NCAA Division I First Round1715
2010 Weber State 6–55–3T–3rd
2011 Weber State 5–65–3T–3rd
Weber State: 43–3834–22
Total:131–101
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

NFL players coached

McBride has coached over 70 players who have moved on to play in the National Football League (NFL):

  • Jamal Anderson, All-Pro running back, played for the Atlanta Falcons
  • Mike Anderson, 2000 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, played for the Denver Broncos
  • Kevin Dyson, first wide receiver taken in the 1998 NFL Draft and a starter for the Tennessee Titans in the 2000 Super Bowl
  • Andre Dyson, cornerback selected by the Tennessee Titans in 2nd round of the 2001 NFL Draft and brother to Kevin
  • Luther Ellis, All-Pro defensive lineman, played for the Detroit Lions
  • Steve Smith, led the NFL in kickoff returns in 2001 and the only rookie named to the Pro Bowl team, Carolina Panthers' all-time leading receiver in receptions, yards, and touchdowns; currently plays for the Baltimore Ravens
  • Jordan Gross, eighth pick in the first round of the NFL draft and current starting offensive tackle for the Carolina Panthers
  • Pat McQuistan, offensive lineman selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 7th round of the 2006 NFL Draft (Weber State)
  • Paul McQuistan, offensive lineman selected by the Oakland Raiders in the 3rd round of the 2006 NFL Draft (Weber State)
  • David Hale, offensive lineman selected by the Baltimore Ravens in the 4th round of the 2008 NFL Draft (Weber State)
  • J. D. Folsom, linebacker selected by the Miami Dolphins in the 7th round of the 2009 NFL Draft (Weber State)
  • Marcus Mailei, fullback signed to Philadelphia Eagles practice squad in 2009, before signing with the Super Bowl-winning New Orleans Saints midseason. (Weber State)
  • Tim Toone, wide receiver, Mr. Irrelevant of the 2010 NFL Draft, selected by the Detroit Lions with the 255th pick in the 7th round
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References
  1. "Player Bio: Ron McBride". 2002. Retrieved February 11, 2009.
  2. Andrew Aragon, WSU, Utah Utes football: Coach Mac brings his current team to face former team, Deseret News, September 23, 2008, Accessed October 21, 2009.
  3. Paul Arnett, McBride hoping for quick decision, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, December 8, 1998, Accessed October 21, 2009.
  4. Steve Guiremand, With coach on hot seat, changes plentiful at Utah, Las Vegas Sun, August 27, 2001, Accessed October 21, 2009.
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