Mark Richard Grieb (born May 23, 1974) is a former

Arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

who spent the majority of his career with the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL). Grieb currently serves as the head coach of the Sacred Heart Prep Gators football team in

Atherton, California Atherton ( ) is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 6,823 as of July 2023 estimates. The town's zoning regulations permit only one single-family home per acre in new subdivisions, though smal ...

. He was a 13-year veteran of the AFL, having played quarterback for the

Anaheim Piranhas The Anaheim Piranhas were a professional arena football team that played in the Arena Football League from 1994 to 1997. They played their home games at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California. The team was originally known as the Las Vegas Sting, ...

(1997) and

(1999–2008, 2011–2012). Grieb also played in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

for the Scottish Claymores (1998) and in the XFL with the Las Vegas Outlaws (2001). Grieb is the second quarterback in AFL history to throw for over 47,000 yards, over 900 touchdowns, over 3,800 completions, and over 10,000 pass attempts. He officially retired on November 8, 2012. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. Grieb passed for 48,080 yards between the Arena League, XFL and NFL Europe. Grieb appeared in three ArenaBowls, winning titles in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Early life

Grieb attended Oak Grove High School in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

, where he was a student and a three-sport athlete in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

College career

Grieb played college football at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. He finished his career in the school's top 10 in six different offensive categories. As a senior, he passed for a school-record 3,230 yards and 25

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s, and earned First-team CoSIDA All-Region honors, was a ''Football Gazette''

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

pick, and was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, which is given to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...

college football MVP.

Professional career

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, Grieb signed with the

of the

. Later that season he was traded to the Milwaukee Mustangs, and spent 1998 with the Scottish Claymores of

before returning to Arena football with the

for the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

season, where he remained the rest of his career. With the SaberCats, he has appeared in four ArenaBowls and wins in the

, and

, although in 2002, on his way to completing an AFL regular season record 13–1 year, he was injured against the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

, sustaining a season-ending broken

collarbone The clavicle, collarbone, or keybone is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on each side of the body. The clavicle is the ...

. John Dutton, Grieb's backup at the time, took over and continued to help lead the team to the ArenaBowl, winning it against the same Rattlers. In

, Grieb was able to stay healthy and help lead the SaberCats to another win the ArenaBowl against the Rattlers. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, he helped lead the SaberCats to yet another ArenaBowl appearance, in ArenaBowl XXII, a 59–56 loss to the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...

. After the 2008 season the league was suspended for 2009 with Grieb a free agent. In 2011, when the SaberCats started back up, they signed Grieb back to the team for his 11th season with the team. Grieb played through the 2012 season, announcing his retirement on November 8, 2012. For a brief period in March 2001, after the Las Vegas Outlaws of the XFL lost all three of their quarterbacks ( Chuck Clements, Ryan Clement and Mike Cawley) to injuries, the Outlaws signed Grieb as an emergency backup. Grieb started several games for the Outlaws, amassing 408 passing yards. Grieb was given an

angle In Euclidean geometry, an angle can refer to a number of concepts relating to the intersection of two straight Line (geometry), lines at a Point (geometry), point. Formally, an angle is a figure lying in a Euclidean plane, plane formed by two R ...

of being a young man signed off the street who was pursuing his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

, ignoring his career in arena football.

Records and awards

Grieb holds several records in AFL history including: * Pass completion percentage for one year: 73% * Passer rating for one year: 133.5 * Career passer rating: 121.93

Coaching career

On April 3, 2013, Grieb was named the head football coach at

Menlo College Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and located in Atherton, California, United States. Campus Menlo College is situated on a 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco an ...

. In February 2015, Menlo dropped its football program. On April 26, 2017, Grieb was named the head football coach at Atherton's Sacred Heart Preparatory. In 2021, Grieb led the SHP Gators to their first state championship title, winning the CIF Division 5A crown. They also won the CCS Division 4 and CIF NorCal 5A titles en route to the state championship.

Teaching career

Grieb briefly taught chemistry at

San Mateo High School San Mateo High School is a National Blue Ribbon comprehensive four-year Public school (government funded), public high school in San Mateo, California, San Mateo, California, United States. It serves grades 9–12 and is one of the seven San Mate ...

. Grieb taught chemistry and biology at Gunn High School before departing for Sacred Heart Prep's head football coaching position. Grieb currently works as a chemistry teacher at Sacred Heart Preparatory.

Head coaching record

College

High school

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grieb, Mark 1974 births Living people American football quarterbacks Anaheim Piranhas players Foothill Owls football coaches Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players Menlo Oaks football coaches Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players Monterey Peninsula Lobos football coaches San Jose SaberCats players Scottish Claymores players Stanford Cardinal football coaches UC Davis Aggies football players High school football coaches in California Oak Grove High School (San Jose, California) alumni Players of American football from San Jose, California Players of American football from Torrance, California