Jon Fabris - Football Coach - Kansas State University Athletics

Jon Fabris

Title:
Defensive Ends
Email:
jfabris@kstatesports.com
Phone:
(785) 532-5876

The Fabris File

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Year at K-State: Fourth
Date of Birth: March 27, 1957
Hometown: Starville, Miss.
Spouse: Marcy
Children: Jack, Michael

EDUCATION

Mississippi (1980)
Bachelor of Arts in Education

PLAYING EXPERIENCE

Ole Miss, Defensive Back (1976-79)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

1980     Georgia Tech (J.V. Defensive Backs)
1982     Washington State (Asst. Defensive Backs)
1983-86 Washington State (Tight Ends)
1987-94 Iowa State (Linebackers)
1995      Notre Dame (Assistant Offensive Line)
1997-98 K-State (Defensive Ends)
1999      South Carolina (Defensive Ends)
2000      Cleveland Browns (Defensive Assistant)
2001-09 Georgia (Defensive Ends)
2011      Northwest Mississippi CC (Defensive Line)
2012      Indiana (Defensive Ends)
2013      Indiana (Defensive Line)
2014      St. Andrews School [GA] (Defensive Coord.)
2015-16 Riverside Military Academy [GA] (DL)
2017-18 K-State (Defensive Ends)

BOWL EXPERIENCE

1996 Orange Bowl (Notre Dame)
1997 Cotton Bowl (K-State)
1997 Fiesta Bowl (K-State)
1998 Alamo Bowl (K-State)
2001 Music City Bowl (Georgia)
2003 Sugar Bowl (Georgia)
2004 Capital One Bowl (Georgia)
2005 Outback Bowl (Georgia)
2006 Sugar Bowl (Georgia)
2006 Chick-Fil-a Bowl (Georgia)
2008 Sugar Bowl (Georgia)
2009 Capital One Bowl (Georgia)
2016 Texas Bowl (K-State)
2017 Cactus Bowl (K-State)

Jon Fabris, who helped tutor two of Kansas State’s best defensive units in school history in 1997 and 1998, is in his second season of his second stint at K-State in 2018 as he tutors the Wildcat defensive ends.

Fabris (pronounced FAB-riss), who has more than 30 years of experience as a coach, has participated in 13 bowl games in stops at Georgia Tech (1980), Washington State (1982-86), Iowa State (1987-1994), Notre Dame (1995-96), K-State (1997-98, 2017), South Carolina (1999), Georgia (2001-09) and Indiana (2012-13). He also spent time with the Cleveland Browns (2000) as well as Northwest Mississippi Community College (2011). In his 13 seasons coaching defensive ends at Georgia, South Carolina and Kansas State, 15 of his players earned spots on NFL regular-season rosters.

The defensive ends helped the 2017 K-State defense rank fourth in the Big 12 by allowing 25.2 points per game, while the Wildcats surrendered only 117.7 rushing yards per game to rank third in the league and 10th in school history. K-State also tied for second in the Big 12 in turnover margin at plus-10 thanks to 23 takeaways, a mark that ranked fourth in the conference.

Under Fabris’ tutelage, sophomore Reggie Walker earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors in 2017 after finishing second on the team with 6.0 tackles for loss. He finished just one TFL ahead of a 13-game starter, senior Tanner Wood, who totaled a career-best 35 tackles while also batting away four passes, the most by a Wildcat defensive lineman since 2013.

Just like he did in his previous stint at K-State, Fabris was instrumental in helping formulate the punt-return game as the Wildcats finished 10th in the nation and ninth in school history with a 13.6-yard average. D.J. Reed was second nationally and sixth in K-State history with a 14.9-yard average, which included a 62-yard touchdown in the season opener against Central Arkansas. Reed went on to earn Second Team All-America honors as a returner from the Walter Camp Foundation and Football Writers Association of America.

While helping the Wildcats obtain a 22-3 record over the 1997 and 1998 seasons, Fabris’ defensive ends were vital in making the defensive unit rank among the best in the nation. In 1998, K-State was third in the country in total defense and tied for sixth nationally in scoring defense. The Wildcats, led by All-Big 12 and All-American defensive end Darren Howard, finished fourth in the nation in total defense, sixth in scoring defense and second in sacks the previous campaign. Howard still holds the K-State career record in sacks with 29.5.

In addition to his work with the defensive ends, Fabris also played a key role in the Wildcats’ success on special teams in his two seasons, specifically the punt-return unit as many school records in that department still stand today. The 1998 Wildcat punt-return unit led the country with a 21.3-yards per return average, returning five punts for touchdowns and becoming the first school in NCAA history to return a punt for a touchdown in three-straight games. The unit was led by 1998 Consensus All-American David Allen, who still holds the K-State punt-return yardage records for a single game (172 vs. Texas), season (730) and career (1,646). Allen also holds the top K-State punt-return touchdown marks for both a single season (4) and a career (7).

At Georgia, Fabris mentored one of the most decorated players in Bulldog and college football history, David Pollack. In 2004, Pollack was named a first team All-American for the third-straight time, SEC Player of the Year for the second time and captured several of the nation’s most prestigious defensive awards: the Rotary Lombardi Trophy, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Ted Hendricks Award (second-straight year) and the Ronnie Lott Trophy. Led by Pollack, seven of the top 14 career sack marks at Georgia were pupils of Fabris.

Fabris helped Charles Grant (2001), Pollack (2002-04), Quentin Moses (2005), Charles Johnson (2006) and Justin Houston (2009) earn All-SEC honors, while Marcus Howard was voted the 2008 Sugar Bowl MVP.

From 2001-08, Fabris orchestrated a Bulldog punt-return unit that was the only one in the nation to finish in the top 15 six times, recording six of the top-10 punt return averages in school history. The Bulldogs set single-season school records for punt-return average (17.6), punt-return yards (746) and blocked punts (5), while they tied a school record with three punt-return touchdowns.

During Fabris’ stint in Athens, Georgia won 90 games, including two SEC Championships, three SEC Eastern Division titles and six bowl games. UGA also boasted six top-10 finishes in the national polls, including a No. 2 ranking in 2007 and a No. 3 mark in 2002.

Fabris was recognized by Sporting News as the best position coach in the SEC in 2009 and one of the top 20 national recruiters by Rivals in 2008. While at Indiana in 2013, Fabris was also named one of ESPN’s top 25 national recruiters, and Rivals rated him as one of the top Big Ten recruiters.

Prior to his first stint at K-State, Fabris was an assistant at Notre Dame working with the offensive line and special teams, handling all kick return and coverage units. That followed an eight-year run at Iowa State (1987-94) in which he oversaw the linebackers, punt returns and kickoff coverage with the Cyclones. His punt return unit ranked among the top seven nationally from 1991-93 and finished first nationally over the three-year period averaging 15.8 yards per return. Additionally, his kickoff coverage teams ranked in the nation’s top 10 from 1991-94 and during that time period Iowa State finished first nationally by allowing just 14.9 yards per return.

Fabris went to Iowa State following a five-year stint at Washington State where he assisted with the defensive backfield (1982) and tutored the tight ends (1983-86). The Cougars finished in the top-10 nationally in total offense in both 1984 and 1985.

Fabris was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at Ole Miss. He graduated in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. He and his wife, Marcy, have two sons, Jack and Michael.