Dec. 19, 2001

LOGAN, Utah - Chris Tabor, the head football coach at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., for the past year has been hired as the new wide receivers coach at Utah State it was announced on Wednesday by Aggie head coach Mick Dennehy. Tabor will replace Eric Kiesau who accepted a similar coaching position at the University of California-Berkeley.

Tabor (pronounced TA-bur) led Culver-Stockton to a 6-5 record this past year which was the schools first winning season since 1986, the most wins since the 1974 campaign, and one win shy of tying the school record for wins in a season. In league play, Culver-Stockton finished in fourth-place with a 5-5 record which was the most conference wins since joining the league in 1980.

"My family and I are very excited about the opportunity to move to the state of Utah and I am looking forward to being a part of the staff and offense at Utah State," said Tabor. "It is great to get back to the Division I level and it is the level I want to coach at. There is nothing like Division I college football."

During his one season at Culver-Stockton, Tabor's offense set school records for points scored (296), touchdowns (39), and total yards (4,003). His offense ranked third in the league in total offense (364.5), and fourth in rushing offense (193.2), passing offense (171.3), and scoring (26.9). Defensively, Culver-Stockton ranked 17th in the NAIA in total defense allowing 283.9 yards per game, and 10th in pass defense (138.4).

"We hate to see Eric leave after doing such a great job with our receiving core and we wish him well in his new capacity and know that he will do a great job at Cal," said Dennehy. "However, we are excited about Chris joining our staff. He brings to us head coaching experience and has been successful wherever he has been. We feel very fortunate that we were able to attract a guy that has the variety of coaching experiences that Chris has."

Prior to his stint as head coach at Culver-Stockton, Tabor spent four seasons at the University of Missouri. He began his duties at Missouri in the spring of 1997 as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line and special teams. Prior to the 2000 season, he was promoted to running backs coach.

Before joining the Missouri staff, Tabor spent two seasons at Central Methodist College where he was the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. He also spent time coaching quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs.

Prior to his stint at Central Methodist, Tabor served as running backs coach at Hutchinson Community College in 1994 and as an assistant coach at Benton High School in St. Joseph, Mo., in 1993.

Tabor was a three-year starter at quarterback at Benedictine (Kan.) College, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1993. He was an all-conference performer and team MVP when the Ravens won the HAAC championship and advanced to the NAIA national semifinals in 1992. He acquired his master of arts degree in education from Columbia (Mo.) College in 1999.