June 24, 2004
By Michael Mirer, The Davis Enterprise
Published June 20, 2004
With 50-yard fields, padded walls acting as sidelines and nets at both ends of the fields to turn errant kicks into instant offense, arena football is far different than the outdoor game. But Mark Grieb's impeccable sense of timing translates easily.
Mike Moroski remembers Grieb as a quarterback who grasped almost every situation, knowing instinctively how long to stick with a passing play and when to bail out and run. Grieb's feel for the game was one of the reasons an upstart UC Davis team, which began the season 2-3, reached the Division II semifinals in 1996.
"Mark's great under pressure. He's always been that way, keeping cool in the pressure games," said Moroski, UCD's offensive coordinator. "That last year (1996), we won some games we weren't expected to win."
And those instincts are a major reason his current team, the San Jose SaberCats, is headed to today's Arena Bowl. His 7-yard scramble in the fourth quarter clinched a semifinal victory over Chicago eight days ago.
"It's been a good year, but by no means has it been an smooth," Grieb said. "This team has been solid in terms of attitude all the way through."
Grieb has become one of the Arena Football League's marquee players. He was the league's offensive player of the year in 2002 and has thrown at least 70 touchdown passes in each of the last three seasons.
The only thing his r/sum/ lacks is the championship performance. Today's game against the Arizona Rattlers will be his first champion game at any level. He was part of San Jose's 2002 run to the title, but he broke his collarbone late in the season and missed the playoffs.
Watching from the bench didn't teach him much about what to expect on the league's big stage. That game was a blowout, as San Jose didn't allow a point for nearly three quarters, a rarity in the Arena League.
"Watching the game, it was such a different game from every other Arena Bowl I've seen," Grieb said. "The experience of that, getting the Arena Bowl tells what it's all about. But when it finally gets to it, it's a football game, no different than the 18 we've played so far."
The AFL, however, is a far different league now than when he arrived in 1997. The AFL has a national television contract with NBC. ESPN the magazine did a series of articles last month referring to the league as the "fifth major sport."
What has improved over his time in the league, Grieb said, is the overall skill level.
"The biggest difference to me is the talent level. It's increased so much since I've been in the league," he said. "It's too tough of a game to be someone who is casual about it. You find a lot of guys who really like to play football."
It was a far different experience in 1997, when Grieb joined the now-defunct Anaheim Piranhas. He didn't plan to stick around long.
"When I first came in, I was a little standoffish," Grieb said. "I wasn't real excited about it. It took me a few years to see what it had to offer."
The old AFL was a far cry from his time at UCD. Grieb was the Aggie quarterback, skilled, but also smart. He won the job his junior year and compiled a 14-8-1 record as a starter. That included playoff wins over Texas A&M Kingsville and Central Oklahoma in 1996.
"He was a guy that could do just about anything that we asked of him," Moroski said. "We could do different things because he had such a great grasp on what we wanted him to do."
Moroski, himself a former a UCD quarterback, saw the makings of a future coach when he worked with Grieb. It's the position, much like a catcher in baseball, that lends itself to big-picture thinking and teamwork.
"At quarterback, a big part of the job is that you're always working with people to get it right," Moroski said. "There's a lot of satisfaction in making things work."
When the arena season ends today, he'll be the offensive coordinator at Division III Menlo College. He's also done stints at UCD, Stanford and Foothill Junior College. Grieb, who has a masters' degree in education from Stanford, found coaching to be an easy transition.
"It's a natural fit for me," Grieb said. "I love teaching and working with people, and like the competitive aspect of sports."
He'll begin his work with the Fighting Oaks soon enough. He's met some of his players there and is excited about the talent level there.
But has one game left this year, a rematch of the 2002 Arena Bowl against Arizona. They are two of the best teams in the AFL, but Grieb downplays the rivalry, saying his goal is simply winning, no matter the opponent.
But it is a safe bet that, at some point during today's game, his mind will flash back to something he learned at UCD and perfected at Toomey Field.
"The years that I spent at Davis built a foundation in terms of how you play the quarterback position," Grieb said. "I carry that with me all the time. That's my foundation. That's where I learned to be a quarterback."
And no matter how big the field is, those skills translate.
