Schmidt added to McBride's new staff

OGDEN — Ron McBride's newly hired coaching staff at Weber State is an interesting mix of old and young — not to mention Ute and Cougar.

McBride, the longtime University of Utah coach, has brought a couple of veteran local assistants out of retirement in former BYU defensive coordinator Ken Schmidt and ex-Ute assistant Wayne "Jugi" Hoge. In addition, McBride's new staff includes a pair of former Ute stars — Henry Lusk and Chad Kauha'aha'a — who are getting their first collegiate coaching jobs.

Schmidt was a successful head coach at both Skyline High and Ricks College before joining LaVell Edwards in Provo as a linebackers coach in 1982. He became the Cougars' defensive coordinator in 1991 and was elevated to assistant head coach under Edwards in 2000. After Edwards' retirement, Schmidt was retained as the Cougars' defensive coordinator for two seasons under Gary Crowton before "retiring" and being replaced by Bronco Mendenhall, who was recently named the Cougars' new head coach.

Interestingly, after spending most of his coaching career as a defensive coach, Schmidt will help out McBride on the offensive side of the ball. Schmidt will be in charge of the Wildcats' offensive line.

"I coached against Ken for 12 seasons, and I can honestly say his defensive players were the toughest group we faced year in and year out," said McBride. "He's been highly successful on all levels of football. I felt we needed a mature, experienced coach to oversee our offensive line and Ken fits the bill perfectly."

Hoge is another veteran coach who has known McBride for many years. Hoge, who will coach Wildcat cornerbacks, spent a total of 18 years coaching at the U. on two separate occasions. He was an assistant to McBride and for Wayne Howard from 1977-81. Hoge, who has been out of coaching since McBride was let go by Utah two years ago, has been lured out of the private business sector back into coaching twice by McBride. When McBride took over as head coach of the Utes in 1990, one of his first priorities was to get him back on the Utah staff to coach the cornerbacks.

Under Hoge's direction, the Utes consistently had one of the best pass defenses in the country. In 2000, Utah led the Mountain West in pass defense and was third nationally in pass efficiency defense. The Utes finished in the top 20, nationally, four different times during his stay at Utah (1994, '96, '98 and 2000).

"I've known coach Hoge for a long time," said McBride. "He's an outstanding coach and teacher of the game. He's tough, but fair, and demands a lot out of his players. He also brings a maturity factor to the staff. Personally, I am glad I could get him out of retirement again and get him back on the field."