| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-10-14)October 14, 1939 (age 85) South Gate, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1959–1962 | San Jose State |
| Position(s) | Linebacker |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1965 | San Jose State (FR/DC/LB) |
| 1966–1968 | Piedmont Hills HS (CA) (DC) |
| 1969–1971 | Gavilan (OC/OL) |
| 1972–1973 | UC Riverside (OC) |
| 1974–1976 | Long Beach State (OC) |
| 1977–1982 | Utah (OC) |
| 1983–1984 | Wisconsin (OL) |
| 1985–1986 | Utah (OL) |
| 1987–1989 | Arizona (OL) |
| 1990–2002 | Utah |
| 2003–2004 | Kentucky (LB) |
| 2005–2011 | Weber State |
| 2013 | Utah Blaze (OL) |
| 2016 | Portland Steel (OL) |
| 2017 | Salt Lake Screaming Eagles (AHC) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 131–101 |
| Bowls | 3–3 |
| Tournaments | 1–2 (NCAA D-I playoffs) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 1WAC (1995) 1MWC (1999) 1Big Sky (2008) | |
Ronald Douglas McBride (born October 14, 1939)[1][2] is an American formercollege football coach. He served as the head football coach at theUniversity of Utah from 1990 to 2002 and atWeber State University from 2005 to 2011, compiling a careercollege football record of 131–101.
A native ofLos Angeles, McBride was an all-city football and baseball standout atSouth Gate High School. He graduated fromSan Jose State University where he played for theSpartans 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.
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 atPiedmont Hills High School (1966–1968) and three years as an assistant atGavilan College (1969–1971), before returning to the NCAA ranks.
From 1972 to 1973, he served as an assistant coach atUniversity of California, Riverside, where he was in charge of the offensive line and served as offensive coordinator. He then served in the same capacities atCalifornia State University, Long Beach from 1974 to 1976.
McBride first came to Utah in 1977 to serve as theoffensive coordinator and offensive line coach underWayne Howard. In 1983, he accepted a position as the offensive line coach at theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served two seasons before returning toSalt Lake City, coaching the offensive line from 1985 to 1986 under head coachJim Fassel.
In 1987, he left the Utes to joinDick Tomey's staff at theUniversity 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.
McBride inherited a program that had only had five winning seasons in the previous 16 years, and had not posted a winning season inWestern 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 rivalBYU kept them out of a bowl. A year later, he led the Utes to the1992 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.[3] |
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 theWestern Athletic Conference and 1999 in theMountain 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 dominatedUtah State (11–2). In 1998, he was a serious candidate to take over the moribund program atHawaii, a position that eventually went toJune Jones.[4]
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 ofRice-Eccles Stadium, and pressure rose to fire McBride.[5] The Utes rebounded in 2001, achieving a winning record and scoring an upset win in the2001 Las Vegas Bowl over theUSC Trojans inPete Carroll's first season. With the Utes slipping again into a losing season, McBride was fired by Utah after the 2002 season and replaced byUrban Meyer.[3] 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, behindIke Armstrong and Whittingham.
After leaving Utah, McBride took over as the inside linebacker coach atKentucky in 2003. He returned to the state of Utah in 2004, when he was named head football coach atWeber State University, an NCAA Division I-AA team that played in theBig Sky Conference. In 2008, theWildcats won their first Big Sky title in 21 years and reached the postseason for the first time since 1991. He retired after seven seasons in 2011. He has since focused his time in part-time coaching and his foundation, which is dedicated to raising money for schools and churches. McBride was inducted into the Weber State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2021.[6][7]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP/TSN° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah Utes(Western Athletic Conference)(1990–1998) | |||||||||
| 1990 | Utah | 4–7 | 2–6 | 7th | |||||
| 1991 | Utah | 7–5 | 4–4 | 4th | |||||
| 1992 | Utah | 6–6 | 4–4 | T–5th | LCopper | ||||
| 1993 | Utah | 7–6 | 5–3 | 4th | LFreedom | ||||
| 1994 | Utah | 10–2 | 6–2 | T–2nd | WFreedom | 8 | 10 | ||
| 1995 | Utah | 7–4 | 6–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1996 | Utah | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd(Mountain) | LCopper | ||||
| 1997 | Utah | 6–5 | 5–3 | T–2nd(Mountain) | |||||
| 1998 | Utah | 7–4 | 5–3 | T–3rd(Pacific) | |||||
| Utah Utes(Mountain West Conference)(1999–2002) | |||||||||
| 1999 | Utah | 9–3 | 5–2 | T–1st | WLas Vegas | ||||
| 2000 | Utah | 4–7 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| 2001 | Utah | 8–4 | 4–3 | T–3rd | WLas Vegas | ||||
| 2002 | Utah | 5–6 | 3–4 | T–5th | |||||
| Utah: | 88–63 | 58–42 | |||||||
| Weber State Wildcats(Big Sky Conference)(2005–2010) | |||||||||
| 2005 | Weber State | 6–5 | 4–3 | T–4th | |||||
| 2006 | Weber State | 4–7 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| 2007 | Weber State | 5–6 | 4–4 | 5th | |||||
| 2008 | Weber State | 10–4 | 7–1 | 1st | LNCAA Division I Quarterfinal | 9 | 7 | ||
| 2009 | Weber State | 7–5 | 6–2 | 2nd | LNCAA Division I First Round | 17 | 15 | ||
| 2010 | Weber State | 6–5 | 5–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| 2011 | Weber State | 5–6 | 5–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| Weber State: | 43–38 | 34–22 | |||||||
| Total: | 131–101 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
