Another Utah Stop for McBride

Coach Mac is back in his adopted home state.

Former Utah coach Ron McBride is now coaching Weber State, hoping to turn around yet another struggling program not far from the university where he made a 13-year run that fans haven’t forgotten.

“I just feel this is where I belong,” McBride said. “I’ve been all over the country as a coach, but I always seem like I end up back in Utah.”

It’s McBride’s fourth stop in Utah and second as a head coach. He coached the Utes from 1990 through 2002. McBride spent the last two seasons coaching linebackers at Kentucky, but when he learned Weber State was interested, McBride knew he’d be heading west again.

“It kind of just snowballed from there,” McBride said.

A native of Los Angeles, McBride has roots in the state. He was an assistant twice at Utah and was hired as coach of the Utes in 1990. The grandfatherly McBride, who turns 66 in October, is known for his close relationships with players and strong community ties.

“He has got great people skills. He’s got that infectious smile and he’s genuine,” said Weber State interim athletic director Jerry Graybeal, the man McBride replaced as coach. “He wants to know your name. He wants to know your affiliation. I think that’s served him well over the years.”

McBride had already planned on retiring to Utah, but returned sooner than expected when he took the Weber State job last December.

The Wildcats are coming off a 1-10 season. McBride isn’t necessarily anticipating a playoff berth, but expects there will be significant improvement in his first season.

“It was a program that needed some juice -- needed to kind of be resurrected a little bit,” he said. “It just seemed like a good fit for me.”

McBride is still popular in the state. He makes frequent public appearances and even got a plug from Karl Malone when the former Utah Jazz forward announced his retirement in February.

Mac has already been welcomed back.

Graybeal said ticket sales, community interest and expectations for the Wildcats have been increasing since McBride’s arrival. He became a football fixture in the state during his tenure at Utah.

Weber State quarterback Ian Pizarro said attendance at voluntary workouts has nearly doubled this summer by players who are already inspired by McBride.

“It’s been a ton better than last summer. We have like 75 guys in the weight room almost every day,” Pizarro said. “He’s always saying ‘hi’ to us. He’s always there to just motivate us and just keep us going. And whatever he says goes. There’s never any exceptions for the stars.”

McBride was out of Utah football for all of two years after being fired in November 2002. The Utes had endured a six-game losing streak and finished 5-6 -- just the third time under McBride that Utah had a losing record. Three straight wins at the end of the season were not enough to convince athletic director Chris Hill that McBride should coach the last year on his contract.

Hill wanted a change and hired Bowling Green’s Urban Meyer, who quickly revived the Utes and went 22-2 in two seasons before getting hired by Florida.

McBride appreciated Meyer’s frequent comments that credited the previous regime with leaving him plenty to work with, but he’s very careful when talking about his unplanned departure from the Utes.

“This is a hard thing to answer. I know what the business is like,” McBride said.

What McBride wanted most was a chance at an outright conference championship. His teams tied for first twice, but never finished alone at the top of the standings. He thought he had the talent to do it, but was denied the chance. He was offered an administrative job, but turned it down and refused to resign as coach.

“What I wanted to do was finish the job that I went to do there,” he said.

The Utes won back-to-back Mountain West Conference outright championships the next two years and nearly all had joined the program under McBride. During Utah’s 12-0 season last fall, when the Utes became the first team from a non-Bowl Championship Series conference to play in one of the four elite BCS games, McBride’s ties to the team were overshadowed by Meyer and Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback Alex Smith.

“The team that I left, all of those guys were the team that played the last two years. Those were all my players, basically, except for one or two of them,” McBride said. “I like to think of myself as a players’ coach. I like to think of myself as caring about my players. I’m not detached from them. I’m part of their lives.”

McBride, who had heart surgery last fall, is also happy to be back for personal reasons. His wife, Vicky, was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last summer and was treated in Salt Lake City.

“They took three-fourths of her stomach out, which was kind of not good, but it beats the alternative,” he said. “She’s actually doing quite well. And it’s very convenient for her to come back here because all of our children and grandchildren are out West.”