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The University of Utah Athletics
Meyer Hires Two Defensive Line Coaches
1/6/2003 12:00 AM | Football
Jan. 6, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
Mike Tuiasosopo and Kurt Barber are the latest additions to Utah's football coaching staff, Head Coach Urban Meyer announced today. Tuiasosopo, a former Utah State assistant who spent the last three years as defensive line coach at Nevada, will coach the defensive tackles at Utah. Barber, the defensive line coach at Kent State for the past two years, will coach the Ute defensive ends.
"I am very pleased that Mike Tuiasosopo and Kurt Barber wanted to be a part of our staff at Utah," says Meyer. "Mike is a well-respected coach who knows the area from his time coaching at Utah State. He has recruited the Islands and the Los Angeles area extensively and brings a passion and energy for coaching the defensive line. Kurt was a standout player at USC and in the NFL and is now known as an excellent technician. He has recruited Southern California and has many friends there in the high school and junior college ranks."
Tuiasosopo, pronounced too-ee-a-so-sopo, was the USU defensive line coach from 1996-99. The Aggies won the 1997 Big West Championship and Tuiasosopo coached the BWC's Defensive Player of the Year, Ben Crosland. In 1998, Tuiasosopo coached first-team all-conference selections Lindsay Hassell and Walter Fiefia. He spent the 2000-02 seasons at Nevada and coached the Western Athletic Conference's 2002 sack leader, Jorge Cordova.
Tuiasosopo served NFL minority internships in the summers of 1997 and 2002 with San Francisco and Green Bay, respectively. His other coaching experience includes three years as head coach at Berkeley High School (Calif.), where he was named the 1994 coach of the year by the Oakland Tribune and the Alameda Newspaper Group. His first college coaching experience was as a graduate assistant defensive line and linebackers coach at University of Pacific in 1991.
Born in American Samoa and raised in Carson, Calif., Tuiasosopo graduated from Pacific Lutheran in Tacoma, Wash., in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in education. A four-year letterman, three-year starting defensive lineman and two-time all-Columbia Conference selection, he played for PLU's 1987 NAIA-II national championship team. He was team captain and defensive MVP in 1988. Tuiasosopo earned a master's degree in education administration from Pacific in 1992.
Barber, a six-year National Football League veteran and former linebacker for USC, has coached the defensive line at three different schools. Before joining the Kent State staff in 2001, Barber coached two seasons (1999-2000) at Tennessee-Martin. He entered the coaching ranks in 1998 at Riverside (Calif.) Community College, where he oversaw the defensive line and coordinated the strength and conditioning program.
At USC, Barber lettered four years, from 1988-91, and was named second-team all-Pacific-10 his senior season. He was also USC's special teams MVP in 1991. Selected in the second round (42nd overall pick) of the 1992 NFL draft by the New York Jets, Barber spent five years with the franchise before finishing his career in 1997 with the Denver Broncos.
A native of Paducah, Ky., Barber was a prep All-American at Tilghman High School and was named Kentucky's "Mr. Football" in 1987. He earned a bachelor's degree in communication from Southern California in 1992.
Meyer now has just one remaining position to fill. He previously retained defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham, safeties coach Bill Busch (now responsible for all of the defensive backs) and defensive graduate assistant Jay Hill from the previous Ute staff. He brought in offensive coordinator Mike Sanford from Stanford and wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales, quarterbacks coach Dan Mullen and offensive line coach John Hevesy from Bowling Green.
"We are now at our full recruiting strength, which was my first priority," says Meyer of his most recent hires.
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