Ron McBride couldn’t place the name, and probably wouldn’t recognize the face after 15 years’ time. But when he was told this week former Colorado State quarterback Anthoney Hill is now on the Rams’ staff coaching running backs, McBride was delighted.
“I’ll have to shake his hand and tell him how much I appreciate him,” McBride said.
He comes in today with a Weber State outfit ranked No. 10 in the Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) poll. In years past, McBride had visited Fort Collins with Utah teams ranked in the top 25 of Division I-A.
Now he’s not so sure one of his old Utah teams would be enough to beat CSU, coming off its 23-17 in-state conquest of rival Colorado last Sunday.
“I’ve looked at them all (the MWC) on film and CSU is absolutely the best,” McBride said. “I bet CSU wins the conference. They are not letting the new quarterback do anything stupid.”
There is a sense of familiarity between the two staffs. CSU defensive coordinator Larry Kerr said “Ron McBride’s a great coach and he’s been doing it for years. He’s turned Weber State around. We can not rest on our laurels.”
Said CSU coach Steve Fairchild, “It reminds me of Ron McBride’s teams when Kyle Whittingham (now Utah’s coach) was defensive coordinator. They aren’t afraid to bump and run you and they are very aggressive on defense.”
In turn, McBride said: “It reminds me of Sonny’s real good teams. He always had tough guys on the offensive line and defensive line.”
Unlike Lubick, who has pursued numerous business opportunities since his departure, McBride went right back into coaching, first as a Kentucky assistant and then back home to Utah.
Last year, when his Wildcats played at Utah, McBride was finally honored by the MWC school with a pregame video tribute.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” McBride said. “I appreciated it. Their fans were great. People know the kind of team I left there.”
Although he has turned around the Big Sky program by recruiting skill position players with track team backgrounds, it wasn’t his idea to schedule MWC teams on back-to-back weekends.
“I don’t have a death wish,” McBride said. “I wouldn’t want to take a Utah team there, let alone a Big Sky team.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
