Former Utah Coach Ron McBride To Be Inducted Into Utes Ring Of Honor
Sep 1, 2025, 1:44 PM | Updated: 5:25 pm
Former Ute coach Ron McBride attends the game in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. (Photo courtesy of Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Photo courtesy of Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Former head coach Ron McBride will be inducted into the Utes’ Ring of Honor this Saturday as Utah football hosts the Cal Poly Mustangs at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
McBride coached the Utes for 13 years and was an integral part of establishing the Utah football brand.
Coach McBride will be inducted into the Ring of Honor this weekend, Kyle credits him for putting Utah back on the map. “Coach Mac was responsible for the resurgence of the Utah football program.”
— Steve Bartle (@BartleKSLsports) September 1, 2025
In the week two press conference, Kyle Whittingham said that McBride was “responsible for the resurgence of the Utah football program.”
McBride was the Utes’ offensive coordinator for six years (1977–1982) and the offensive line coach for two years (1985–1986) before serving as the programs head coach from 1990 to 2002.
In his time with Utah, McBride went 88–63 with six bowl appearances, including the program’s first back-to-back bowl berths since the 1960s.
Ron McBride: Architect of Utah football’s turnaround
When McBride returned to Salt Lake City as head coach in 1990, Utah hadn’t sniffed a postseason in a quarter-century. Armed with his “MAFU” mantra—Mental toughness, Aggressiveness, Fanatical effort, Unity—he transformed a sputtering program into a national contender.
After a 7–5 breakthrough in 1991, Utah won its first eight games in 1994, capped by a Freedom Bowl victory over No. 15 Arizona that vaulted the Utes into the top 10. McBride’s teams captured shares of both the WAC (1995) and Mountain West (1999) titles, and he engineered signature bowl wins over USC (2001 Las Vegas Bowl) and fueled Carson Palmer’s Heisman campaign.
Off the field, McBride’s influence only grew. He not only sent 21 players to the NFL but also launched the Ron McBride Foundation, supporting Utah’s most vulnerable youth.
His accolades include inductions into the Utah Athletics Hall of Fame (2012), Utah Sports Hall of Fame (2013), and Weber State Hall of Fame (2021), plus national honors from the College Football Hall of Fame and the All-American Football Foundation.
