Fresno State Athletics
Weber Named Assistant Football Coach
1/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Jan. 29, 2004
Fresno, Calif. - Mark Weber, who for the last eight seasons served as the offensive line coach at UCLA, has been hired by head football coach Pat Hill as offensive line coach at Fresno State. Weber replaces Dennis Wagner, who earlier this month accepted the offensive line coaching position at Nebraska.
"I have known Mark for a long time and coached him in junior college," said Hill. "I have followed his progress and his career. He's an excellent football coach and teacher. We have a lot of good teachers on this staff. Mark adds to that. He's a good fundamental teacher, he's been at UCLA and knows what it takes to be competitive at a high level. He's a proven recruiter in California and that's always important."
While at UCLA, Weber helped the Bruins to five bowl appearances, including the 1999 Rose Bowl, and two Pacific-10 Conference titles (1997 and 1998).
Under Weber's tutelage, offensive tackle Kris Farris won the 1998 Outland Trophy as the nation's top lineman and was named first-team All-America. He coached two first-team All-Americans, two freshmen All-Americans and six players who were selected for All-Pac-10 honors. During his career he has been associated with some of the nation's best passing programs. He also coached 1998 first-team Academic All-American Shawn Stuart.
The 2000 Bruin squad accounted for 3,186 yards, third-most in UCLA history, and the 1998 squad accounted for a school-record 5,847 total yards. The Bruins had a 20-game winning streak during the 1997-98 seasons and broke the UCLA record for most points scored with 447 in 1997. UCLA defeated Texas A&M 29-23 in the 1998 Cotton Bowl and finished ranked No. 5 in the nation. The following year, the Bruins posted a 10-2 record and were ranked No. 8 in the nation after losing to Wisconsin 38-31 in the Rose Bowl.
"I'm excited about this opportunity," Weber said. "I have been impressed with Pat Hill and his program for a long time. He does it right. His players are tough guys and play the game very hard. That was evident in the bowl game last year, especially on the offensive front. Those guys played very hard and dominated a very good defensive front of UCLA. I think we have a talented group of linemen coming back, but their best attribute is that they play hard and physical and are tough guys."
Prior to UCLA, Weber spent three seasons (1994-96) as assistant head coach and offensive line coach at UNLV and held the same capacity of Nevada in 1993. UNLV had the ninth-best passing offense in Division I-A in 1996. The Rebels won the Big West Conference and Las Vegas Bowl titles in 1994. Weber was the offensive line coach at Oregon State from 1987-1990 and was the defensive line coach at Missouri Western State College in 1991. From 1985-86, he was the offensive line and strength coach at West Texas State, and held the same position at Eastern New Mexico from 1983-84. While at West Texas State, his team led Division II in passing offense. He spent one season, 1982, as an assistant coach at Snow College, and served as a graduate assistant at Idaho State from 1980-81, as the Bengals won the Division I-AA national championship. He served as an assistant at Los Angeles Valley College in 1979.
Weber is a graduate of Cal Lutheran, where he played offensive guard for two seasons and was an honorable mention Small College All-American. He earned All-Metro honors at Los Angeles Valley College He earned a bachelor's degree from Cal Lutheran in Physical Education in 1980 and a Master's degree in Physical Education from Idaho State in 1981.
Weber and wife, Kathryn, have two daughters, Alexandra and KaCee.
