Weber State University announced the hiring of Eric Kjar as the new football head coach on Dec. 16, 2025. Kjar will be coming from Corner Canyon High School where he was head football coach.
Kjar immediately began rebuilding a program that had its worst season since 2014.
In taking over a new program, there are two paramount concerns. First, replacing players that have transferred because of the absence of the previous coach who recruited them.
Second, new head coaches tend to prefer their own staff rather than the previous coach’s, so a high turnover in assistant coaches is inevitable.
Of the 2025 team’s coaches, Kjar retained only four, but three will coach in the upcoming season.
Defensive Ends Coach James Cowser and Quarterbacks Coach Zach Larson will remain in their roles, while Defensive Graduate Assistant Jace Campbell has been promoted to assistant coach.
Wide Receivers Coach and Special Teams Coordinator Skyler Ridley was retained and promoted to associate head coach, but shortly thereafter was hired as the wide receivers coach at Utah State University by his former college head coach, Bronco Mendenhall.
Kjar brought in seven new coaches to Ogden, including former Tyler Junior College head coach Tanner Jacobson, who will serve as associate head coach, special teams coordinator and linebackers coach; and former assistant safeties coach at Brigham Young University Gavin Fowler, who will serve as defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
Former University of Utah assistant offensive line coach Isaac Asiata, who played in the NFL for two seasons, will serve as offensive line coach. Former Wildcat players Kam Garrett and Isiah Jackson will serve as cornerbacks and wide receivers coaches, respectively.
Former Weber State All-American cornerback Eddie Heckard was hired as the cornerbacks coach. However, former Weber State Head Coach Jay Hill, who is now the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan, also hired Heckard and he chose to work at Michigan.
Jacobson’s defensive line coach at Tyler Junior College, Ono Tafisi, will serve in a similar role at Weber State as the defensive tackles coach. Finally, former Weber State graduate assistant Tana Vea will serve as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator.
After losing nearly 30 players to the transfer portal, Kjar and his staff took on the monumental task of replacing them.
One unit that was gutted by transfer portal departures was the offensive line, as longtime Offensive Line Coach Brent Myers was let go by Kjar, thus leading to many offensive linemen leaving.
“There needed to be a little bit of change and more guys on the roster, too, especially offensive line,” Kjar said. “We had to add a bunch there, and I think we’ll try to carry at least 18 to 20 offensive linemen into spring — into fall next year.”
One of the biggest pickups in the transfer portal was Devin Brown, who transferred from the University of California, Berkeley. Brown played his senior season at Corner Canyon and holds the state record for passing yards in a season. Brown was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school, ranked second-best in the state by 247Sports. He committed to Ohio State University, where he appeared in 17 games over three years and threw three touchdown passes. After his redshirt-sophomore season, Brown transferred to Cal, where he sat behind true freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
“His story to come here is probably the opposite of what you’re seeing in the modern era of college football, where he turned down a lot of money to come here,” Kjar said. “(He) wanted to be back in a scheme where he felt like it’s a lot of fun to be a quarterback in and just build something.”
Jackson Gilkey and Dijon Jennings, the two quarterbacks who played the most last season, both entered the transfer portal. However, with Brown and the two returning quarterbacks, Cash McCollum and Kingston Tisdell, Kjar is optimistic about the quarterback room.
“I think there’s a lot of assumptions that it’s just Devin’s to go, but it’s not,” Kjar said. “I love the other two guys that are here right now already and felt strongly about them both from watching last year.”
Kjar, who coached Utah high school football for 22 years, knew the importance of bringing in local players to the program.
“It’s one of the deepest states per capita,” Kjar said. “The Utah thing matters, but it’s not like the kids here are doing something different than like in other states where they are recruiting kids from.”
One problem Weber State football has faced over the past few years is a lack of an explosive offense, something Kjar wants to change.
“I’m excited to put … an explosive offensive out on the field,” Kjar said.
However, Kjar understands that football is a three-faceted game, and a team cannot be great in just one facet and win games.
“I don’t think a coach ever sets out to be, ‘We’re going to be good on defense, crappy on offense and really good on special teams, and we’re going to win football games.’ It should be, ‘We’re going to be good in all three phases.”
Weber State football begins its spring practices on March 9, and will begin its 2026 campaign on Aug. 29 in Greeley, Colorado, against the University of Northern Colorado.
