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

Arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

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 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

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

Atherton, California Atherton () is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,188 as of 2020. Atherton is known for its wealth; in 1990 and 2019, Athe ...

. 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 League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

for the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

(1998) and in the

XFL XFL may refer to: Sports * XFL (2001), a defunct American football league that played its only season in 2001 * XFL (2020), a professional American football league Vehicles * Bell XFL Airabonita, a 1940 U.S. Navy experimental interceptor aircra ...

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 (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

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

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

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 6 ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

High school career

Grieb attended Oak Grove High School in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 (appr ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

College career

Grieb played college football at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

. He finished his career in the school's top 10 in six different

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

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. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, and earned First-team CoSIDA All-Region honors, was a ''Football Gazette'' All-American pick, and was a finalist for the

Harlon Hill Trophy The Harlon Hill Trophy is an award in American college football given to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II. The award is named for former University of North Alabama and National Football League player Harlo ...

, which is given to the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an 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 environmen ...

college football MVP.

Professional career

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, Grieb signed with the

of the

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

before returning to Arena football with the

for the

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 shootin ...

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 Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of 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, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

. 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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, he helped lead the SaberCats to yet another ArenaBowl appearance, in

ArenaBowl XXII ArenaBowl XXII was played on July 27, 2008 at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana (the host of ArenaBowl XXI). It was the 22nd and final championship game in the history of the Arena Football League, original Arena Football League. This was ...

, 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 instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

. 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

lost all three of their quarterbacks (

Chuck Clements Chad "Chuck" Clements (born August 29, 1973) is a former American football quarterback who played one season with the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New York Jets in the sixth round of the 1997 NFL Draf ...

Ryan Clement Ryan Clement (born October 25, 1975) is a former American football quarterback. He played college for the Miami Hurricanes and professionally in NFL Europe, XFL, United Indoor Football and the Indoor Football League. High school career Clement ...

and

Mike Cawley Mike Cawley (born August 28, 1972) is a former professional American football, American and Canadian football quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League (CFL), NFL Europe and the XFL (2001), XFL. He was drafted by the Indianapolis Co ...

) 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 is the figure formed by two Ray (geometry), rays, called the ''Side (plane geometry), sides'' of the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the ''vertex (geometry), vertex'' of the angle. Angles formed by two ...

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

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, 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 is located in Atherton, California. Campus Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...

. 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 high school in San Mateo, California, United States. It serves grades 9–12 and is part of the San Mateo Union High School District. History In its first year, San ...

. Grieb taught chemistry and biology at

Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...

before departing for Sacred Heart Prep's head football coaching position.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grieb, Mark 1974 births Living people American football quarterbacks Anaheim Piranhas players Las Vegas Outlaws (XFL) players Menlo Oaks football coaches Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players San Jose SaberCats players Scottish Claymores players Stanford Cardinal football coaches UC Davis Aggies football players Junior college football coaches in the United States High school football coaches in California Players of American football from San Jose, California Players of American football from Torrance, California