Elvis Grbac returns to coach his high school alma mater
By Matt Conner
Former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Elvis Grbac has announced he’s accepted a job to be the head football coach at his high school alma mater.
Back in 1990, St. Joseph High School in Cleveland, Ohio graduated a football hero who would one day be inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. Nearly 30 years later, Elvis Grbac announced he’s returning to the school earlier this week, as he’s accepted the role of athletic director and head football coach.
These days, the school is known as VASJ—Villa Angela-St. Joseph after a merger brought them together following Grbac’s graduation—and it’s the home of quite a few sports heroes over the years—from Desmond Howard to Clark Kellogg to Mike Golic.
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Grbac went on to play at the University of Michigan after his high school graduation and led the Big Ten in passing touchdowns in his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. He’s still ranked No. 7 overall in Big Ten passing history with 71 career touchdown passes.
Grbac enjoyed a nice college career, but was almost an afterthought heading into the pros. The San Francisco 49ers drafted him in the eighth round of the 1993 NFL Draft. He spent the first few years of his career as Steve Young‘s back-up in the Bay Area, which gave him a few games each season to show what he could do given Young’s injury history. Grbac showed enough in spot duty during his first few years to entice the Kansas City Chiefs to take a chance on him in free agency.
Grbac continued the string of former Niners quarterbacks taking over as starters in K.C. and had moderate success during his tenure with the Chiefs. He would serve as the primary starter for four years and went 26-21 in that span, including a Pro Bowl appearance in 2000 for his 28 touchdown, 4,100 passing yard performance on the season.
Grbac left K.C. for big money with the Baltimore Ravens when he signed a five-year, $30 million deal after his Pro Bowl season to take over for Trent Dilfer. Unfortunately for Grbac, he would flame out after a single season, and instead of entering the veteran QB carousel that so often happens, he decided to retire.