January 19, 1995: Vol26n13: New football coach puts recruitng high on the agenda

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
Craig Cirbus had earned his UB bachelor's degree in civil engineering
in1980. A promising future as an engineer lay ahead of him, but he was
troubled by a sense that something just wasn't right.
	His heart was not in his downtown engineering office. He had a
monkey on his back; an addiction that had a firm grip on Cirbus and
would not let go. He tried desperately to keep it under control, but
the need was overwhelming. Finally, it proved too great for him to
resist. He knew he could no longer serve two masters, so he quit his
job, packed his belongings and left.
	Craig Cirbus could not live without football.
	That's why Cirbus is back home today. The new head coach of
the UB Bulls football squad has spent the last 12 years learning the
college football game under the guidance of one of the best in the
business: Penn State's Joe Paterno.
	"I frequently call him my mentor," says Cirbus of the
legendary Paterno, "and he really is. Both as a football coach and as
a leader. He is just a great human being." And, just having been
associated with Paterno for so many years opens many doors for Cirbus,
particularly when recruiting, he says.
	A Cheektowaga native, Cirbus had a standout high school
football career as a tight end and defensive lineman for St. Joseph's
Collegiate Institute in Kenmore. But when he arrived at UB to pursue
his engineering degree in the fall of 1975, UB didn't even have a
football program. In his junior year, UB restarted its football
program and Cirbus made the team as an offensive lineman. Although he
doesn't claim to have been a star lineman, Cirbus called those two
years "an overwhelmingly positive experience that generated a high
motivation in me to stay involved in football."
	Cirbus went to work for Hatch Associates, a Buffalo
engineering firm, after college, but served as an assistant coach at
Cheektowaga High School in his spare time.