Chris Tabor

Chris Tabor
Chicago Bears
Position: Special teams coordinator
Personal information
Born: c. 1971 (age 46–47)
St. Joseph, Missouri
Career information
High school: Benton (Mo.)
College: Benedictine College
Undrafted: 1993
Career history
As coach:

Chris Tabor is an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL) working as the special teams coordinator for the Chicago Bears. Prior to this season, he coached for seven seasons for the Cleveland Browns and has more then 20 years of coaching experience between the high school, collegiate and professional levels.[1]

Education and College career

Tabor earned a degree in physical education in 1993 at Benedictine (Kan.) College where he was a three-year starter at quarterback. He was an all-conference selection and team MVP in 1992, when the Ravens won the Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Championship, and advanced to the NAIA Division II national semifinals. In 2017 Tabor was elected into the Benedictine College Hall of Fame.[2] He earned his master's degree in education in 1999 from Columbia (Mo.) College.

Coaching career

High school and College

Tabor started his coaching career in 1993 as an assistant at his high school alma mater Benton in St. Joseph, Mo., one year later he then spent one season coaching running backs at Hutchinson (Kan.) JC before becoming the offensive coordinator at Central Methodist from 1995-96.

Following the 1996 season, Tabor moved on to Missouri and was a graduate assistant for three years before becoming the running backs and special teams coach in 2000. While at Columbia, the Tigers ranked in the nation's top 10 in rushing offense and played in two bowl games.

In 2001 he was the head coach at Culver–Stockton College in Missouri and led the program to a 6-5 record, the school's first winning season in 15 years[3]. In Tabor only season there, his team set school records for points scored, touchdowns and total yards, and ranked 17th in the NAIA in total defense and 10th in pass defense.

Tabor spent four seasons at Utah State University, and was the Aggies’ assistant head coach and wide receivers coach from 2002-04 and running backs and special teams coach in 2005. He later spent two seasons at Western Michigan University (2006-07) as the running backs and special teams coach.

Professional

Tabor got his first shot in the NFL when he spent three seasons (2008-10) as assistant special teams coach with the Chicago Bears under coordinator Dave Toub on head coach Lovie Smith's staff. During Tabor’s tenure with the Bears, Chicago consistently ranked among the league leaders in numerous departments. The Bears ranked in the top five in no less than nine different special teams categories combined over that three-year period. Chicago led the NFL in total return yards (6,570) and kickoff return yards (5,415), posted the second-best kickoff return average (25.1), ranked third in punt return defense (7.1) and produced the fifth-best punt return average (10.4). The Bears also registered six total kick returns for touchdowns in that time, which tied for second-most in the league.[4]

In 2011 he was hired as the special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. During Tabor's tenure in Cleveland, the Browns were the only NFL team to have earned at least one AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award each season from 2011-2016. In total, the Browns won seven AFC Special Teams Player of the Week awards. He also oversaw kicker Phil Dawson [5] and returner Joshua Cribbs [6] in 2012 when were both were selected to the Pro Bowl, marking just the second time in team history that two specialists made the annual all-star game in the same year. Also, during his tenure with the Browns, they lead the NFL in punt return average (11.3 yards), were first in kickoff return average against (19.8) and were tied for sixth in punt return touchdowns (four).

On January 12, 2018, Tabor was hired by the Chicago Bears as a Special Teams Coordinator, reuniting with the team he started his NFL career.[7]

Personal life

Tabor grew up in a football family, his father, Don, coached high school football in Missouri for 40 years and all of his brothers (Donnie, Matt and Michael) played football at Benedictine (Kan.) College.[8]

He is married to Nikki (nee Graves), and the couple have two daughters, Paityn and Lainey.

References

  1. ↑ "Chris Tabor biography". ClevelandBrowns.com.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ Cabot, Mary Kay (January 25, 2011). "Cleveland Browns hire former Bears assistant Chris Tabor as special teams coordinator". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  5. ↑ Hangst, Andrea (December 27, 2012). "Finally, Cleveland Browns Kicker Phil Dawson Makes the Pro Bowl". Bleacher Report. Retrieved December 27, 2012.
  6. ↑ Matt, Florjancic (January 27, 2013). "Cribbs proud to make Pro Bowl". ClevelandBrowns.com. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  7. ↑ Finley, Patrick (January 12, 2018). "Chris Tabor is the Bears' new special teams coordinator". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ Matt, Florjancic (November 10, 2013). "Chris Tabor driven by memory of father, his coaching legacy". Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2013.
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