- Ron McBride, former Utah coach, joins the Ring of Honor on Saturday.
- McBride transformed Utah football, setting the stage for Urban Meyer and Kyle Whittingham.
- He improved recruiting, led Utah to six bowl games and revitalized the BYU rivalry.
SALT LAKE CITY — Before Urban Meyer advanced his meteoric rise through the coaching ranks and Kyle Whittingham engineered the excellent transition into a power conference, another coach did the heavy lifting that paved the way for Utah's success.
Ron McBride took over a program in 1990 that was mired in perpetual mediocrity, unable to generate any excitement with recruits or within its fan base. BYU was showered in attention at the time, leaving the Utes as an afterthought.
In the two decades before McBride became the coach, Utah had failed to gain any traction as BYU repeatedly won conference championships with an exciting brand of football. About the best the Utes could do was the occasional 6-5 season when 11-game schedules were the norm.
With his folksy nature and ability to recruit better talent, McBride built the Utes into conference contenders in the WAC and Mountain West, along with making the rivalry with BYU a competitive game.
He essentially set the stage for Meyer's two-year run that included an unbeaten season and Fiesta Bowl win in 2004 that was followed by Whittingham's ascension from defensive coordinator to head coach the following season.
Inheriting a program that had only five winning seasons in the previous 16 years and was coming off five consecutive losing seasons in the WAC, McBride coached the Utes to a 7-5 record in his second year. The following season in 1992 Utah made a bowl game (the Copper Bowl) for the first time in 28 years.
The Utes played in six bowl games under McBride, doubling the number of bowl appearances in the previous 97 years. His teams won bowl games against USC, Arizona and Fresno State.
"Coach Mac was responsible for the resurgence of Utah football," said Whittingham, who joined McBride's staff as a defensive assistant in 1994.
McBride, who is now 85, had three stints at Utah beginning as offensive coordinator from 1977-82 and then as the offensive line coach in 1985-86. In between working as an assistant at Arizona, he returned to Utah as the head coach from 1990-02.
For his efforts, he will join former wide receiver Roy Jefferson as the second and third inductees into the program's Ring of Honor in a halftime ceremony Saturday night during Utah's game against Cal Poly at Rice-Eccles Stadium. They will join former quarterback Alex Smith, who was the first inductee last year.
In what seems impossible to believe given the current state of the program, McBride changed Utah's recruiting philosophy by targeting more in-state high school players. This meant going after local Latter-day Saints talent, embracing the condition that many of those players would leave to serve two-year church missions.
He was considered an excellent recruiter, a fact that contributed significantly toward upgrading the program's talent. In turn, his players responded in kind to the fierce loyalty he showed them.
"If you had to say what is coach Mac's strength, it is recruiting," Whittingham said. "In college, that's the most important aspect of your job, so you can say he was the best at what was most important."
Inheriting much of McBride's roster after then-athletic director Chris Hill decided to change coaches, Meyer quickly lifted Utah to a much higher plateau. In two seasons, he guided Utah to consecutive conference championships and an unbeaten season in 2004.
Meyer, who had no previous connection to Utah before taking the job, always intended to parlay his success into a higher-profile job. Sure enough, he left for Florida after two seasons, but Hill then promoted Whittingham, whom Meyer retained after McBride's dismissal.
The Whittingham hire restored McBride's direct connection to the Utah program, having hired him as an assistant in 1992. In his 21st year at the helm, he is Utah's winningest coach.
"For me personally, he gave me my first opportunity in Division I football," Whittingham said. "I'm forever grateful for that."
