Former SaberCats star Mark Grieb finding his joy coaching Sacred Heart Prep

Mark Grieb has had a circuitous football career.

The man who today coaches Sacred Heart Prep traveled a lot of places as a football player. He’s best known as the star quarterback of the San Jose SaberCats, whom he led to ArenaBowl championships in 2002, 2004 and 2007.

But even before then, Grieb’s playing days took him all over the world. A native of San Jose who starred at Oak Grove High School, Grieb matriculated at UC Davis, where he passed for 3,230 yards as a senior in 1995.

After a cup of coffee with two Arena Football League teams in 1997, Grieb found himself out of football again, instead pursuing a PhD in molecular biology. Then the phone rang.

“I was in a lab down at UCLA, and they called me up and they’re like, ‘Hey, you want to come play in NFL Europe?’ Grieb said. “I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’”

In the 1990s and early 2000s, the NFL facilitated a largely Europe-based minor league that allowed players like Grieb to continue playing. It wasn’t quite first-class professional football, but it was an unforgettable experience.

“At that time, it was like all the fringe NFL guys and guys that were signed, and they’d get sent over from a team,” Grieb said. “So they’d be signed by a team, and then they get sent over to Europe. So you’ve got extra players that you could sign in the NFL. So it was kind of like an NFL-type training camp where you had all the teams in Atlanta first, and then we went over to Scotland after that.”

Grieb played the 1998 season with the Scottish Claymores, traveling around Europe for a season before returning to the United States in 1999, when he signed with the SaberCats.

“You had that little international flavor to it,” he said. “It was cool, different. It’s playing a sport that’s like a minor sport over there, because soccer is so big, and football wasn’t so big. So not as many people were into it, but the fringe people were and would come out and support us.”

Though he was only there for a year, it left a strong impression on Grieb – one that continues to this day.

“To live in Scotland for 10 weeks and to go to Germany, there’s just a cultural experience,” he said. “Let alone getting to see the different cities that you travel to. It was amazing. I mean, my daughters have never been and they’re like, ‘Hey Dad, you should take us to Scotland. You talk about it all the time.’ And I’m like, ‘Do I?’”

But Grieb really made his name in football with the SaberCats. He racked up over 47,000 yards passing and 900 TDs, cementing himself as one of the best players to ever play in the AFL.

After winding down his career in the arena in 2012, Grieb began coaching, first at the now-defunct Menlo College football program. He moved on to teaching positions at San Mateo and Gunn high schools.

In 2017, he was hired as the head coach of Sacred Heart Prep, a school his daughters attended from first grade all the way through their high school graduation. Since then, he has won two CCS championships, most recently one week ago against Burlingame in Division IV.

After Saturday’s game, he was asked how it compared to winning an ArenaBowl.

“They’re all great,” Grieb said. “This is awesome.”

Grieb has now been in charge of SHP for eight seasons, nearing the length of his decade-plus spent with the SaberCats, with whom he returned home after his sojourn in Scotland.

“At the time, I had only played one season of arena ball,” Grieb said. “That experience of going over there was the best. Scotland, that was great, amazing. I wish they still had that league. It was so much fun. I wanted to do it again. And then once I got entrenched in the SaberCats and got to know the guys, it was way more fun. But at the time, I would’ve said Scotland (was more fun).”

He’s having a good time today with a Gators team that has turned around what had been a challenging regular season. SHP finished its 2024 campaign with a 4-6 record, ending with a disappointing 20-17 loss to backyard rival Menlo School.

Since then, Sacred Heart Prep has rattled off a 24-14 win over The King’s Academy, a 28-14 victory at Branham and a 21-10 triumph over Burlingame in the D-IV title game.

Grieb knows all about winning championships. With this Gators group, he’ll have an opportunity for a NorCal 6-A title Saturday afternoon in Atherton against Summerville High School of Tuolumne.

If SHP can come out on top, Grieb will have a shot to win his second state championship in four years. The 2021 Gators won a 5-A title 16-0 over Righetti-Santa Maria.

“There were points of the season where people started to write us off a little bit, and they never gave up,” Grieb said after beating Burlingame. “These guys keep competing and trying to get better. And I think you’re starting to see how they’ve jelled.”