Joseph Weber
Soccer goalkeeper Joseph Weber is the first UT Dallas student to be appointed to the NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
The 23-member committee represents student-athletes from the 450 colleges and universities who compete in NCAA’s Division III. Members review and propose legislation, implement student-athlete initiatives and offer input on policies that affect student-athletes’ lives.
“It’s the student-athlete’s voice to the NCAA, to get the changes we want to see nationally,” Weber said.
Each national committee member represents two conferences. Weber will represent both the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Comets' conference, the American Southwest Conference (ASC).
Upcoming legislation to be voted on includes new weight rooms for athletes only and continued offseason training opportunities.
Weber, a marketing junior in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, is a two-time All-ASC selection for the Comets in his two years with the men’s soccer program. He took over as the Comets starting goalkeeper in 2014 when he transferred from Colorado State-Pueblo. That year he was named first-team All-ASC and was a four-time ASC Defensive Player of the Week award winner.
In fall 2015, Weber was the ASC Tournament MVP, and also was honored as second-team All-ASC and a three-time Player of the Week selection, giving him a school-record seven weekly honors in his career.
Weber, who grew up in Frisco, began playing soccer when he was 4 years old. He became a goalkeeper as soon as he could, at age 9.
“I kept telling my parents that’s what I want to do. I kind of like the pressure. I thrive in it. When you make a save, it gets the whole team charged up,” Weber said.
He continued his soccer career at Frisco’s Heritage High School, where he was a two-time All-State performer and All-Region player who led the team to back-to-back district titles. Weber earned first-team All-State honors as a senior. He also was a three-time first-team All-District honoree and earned Goalkeeper of the Year honors his final two seasons.
During his two-year term with the national SAAC, Weber will travel to Indianapolis quarterly to meet with fellow committee members. The committee also holds a convention each January. Upcoming annual events are scheduled for San Antonio, Nashville and Indianapolis.
After graduating from UT Dallas, Weber may join the Air Force, with hopes of flying helicopters someday. He also thinks a job in sports marketing and analytics would be a good fit.
But he has no plans to give up playing soccer.
“I figure I’ll be playing in an old men’s league one day,” he said.