Eric Lamone Yarber (born September 22, 1963) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former college player who is currently the wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played two seasons in the NFL as a wide receiver for the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, which included a win in Super Bowl XXII.

Early years

Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, Yarber grew up in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

in South-Central

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, and graduated from

Crenshaw High School Crenshaw High School is a four-year public secondary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District, located on 11th Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The school first opened in 1968 and currently enrolls arou ...

. Though he did not play varsity football in high school due to his size, he played junior college football at

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often call ...

. He transferred to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

to play for third-year head coach Yarber was the conference

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

in his senior season of

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, and the Vandals won their first league title Yarber led the Big Sky in receiving with over 1,100 yards and ten touchdowns during the eleven-game regular season. Teammates on the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, prima ...

included quarterback

Scott Linehan Scott Thomas Linehan (born September 17, 1963) is an American football coach who currently works as an offensive analyst for Missouri. He was most recently the passing game coordinator for LSU. He was previously the head coach of the St. Louis ...

and offensive lineman

Tom Cable Thomas Lee Cable Jr. (born November 26, 1964) is an American football coach who last was the offensive line coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the Seattle Seahawks assistant head ...

, both future NFL head coaches, and lineman Yarber was selected in the twelfth round of the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

by the

and played two seasons.

Coaching career

Yarber began his coaching career back at Idaho in 1996 as a secondary defensive back coach under second-year head coach Chris Tormey. He was the wide receivers coach at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

in 1997. The next year, head coach

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ...

hired Yarber to be the offensive quality control coach of the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, and coached under Erickson from and . Yarber was on Erickson's staff at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

in the

Pac-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, he was the running backs coach, and the next year he became the wide receivers coach. He coached Chad Johnson and T. J. Houshmandzadeh during their time with the Beavers. He followed Erickson back to the pros with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, as the receivers coach in 2003 and 2004. Following Erickson's dismissal, Yarber was the receivers coach for the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-1 ...

for two seasons under head coach

Tyrone Willingham Lionel Tyrone Willingham (born December 30, 1953) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University (1995–2001), the University of Notre Dame (2002–2004), and the University of Washington (2005–2 ...

. In 2007, Yarber became the receivers coach for the

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

under Erickson through 2009. In 2010, Yarber moved back to the NFL for two seasons with as the wide receivers coach for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

. Following a 4–12 record in 2011, Raheem Morris and his staff were fired on January 2, 2012. A week later on January 9, Yarber was named the wide receivers coach for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

under new head coach Jim Mora. He returned to the NFL in as the wide receivers coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Yarber won his first championship as coach and second overall after the Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

Personal life

Yarber received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The Universit ...

in 1995. He was married in June 2005 to his wife Michele and they have one son Kameryon.

References

External links

Los Angeles Rams bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yarber, Eric 1963 births Living people American football wide receivers Washington Redskins players Idaho Vandals football players Los Angeles Valley Monarchs football players Sportspeople from Chicago Idaho Vandals football coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches Seattle Seahawks coaches Oregon State Beavers football coaches San Francisco 49ers coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches UCLA Bruins football coaches Los Angeles Rams coaches Players of American football from Los Angeles Crenshaw High School alumni Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from Chicago Sports coaches from Los Angeles