Mentor had a history of disappointing me

Bill McCartney had a history of disappointing me.

He was also one of my greatest sources of inspiration and a mentor of sorts.

McCartney — or Mac, or Coach Mac, or Coach, as he was often called — died last week at age 84 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. He is best known as a former head football coach at the University of Colorado and as co-founder of Promise Keepers.

His hiring at CU was my first disappointment. I grew up 10 miles from Folsom Field and had just suffered through the Chuck Fairbanks error, I mean era, when Mac was hired. He looked like a dweeb and he came off like Goober Pyle [played by George Lindsey] from the “Andy Griffith Show” during his introductory press conference. He went 7-25-1 in his first three seasons at CU.

He started recruiting Black players from the inner city of Los Angeles and they had run-ins with the law. Things looked pretty dismal for the Buffaloes. Then they got good — really good. He led the team to two consecutive national championship games against Notre Dame, winning the second one and earning Colorado its first and only football championship.

I was wildly excited about it. By then I had moved away from Colorado, but I was very proud of my hometown team. The second time he disappointed me was when he announced he was leaving CU to run some religious organization. After all those years of football follies, Colorado had its savior and at the height of success he quits.

My first marriage ended not long after that and I returned to Colorado. My mother bought tickets for my brother and me to go to an event at Mile High Stadium where Coach Mac would be speaking. I agreed to go because I wanted to be back in the stadium, and I wanted to see Coach Mac. That weekend of June 16-17, 1996, changed my life. It was the first of many Promise Keepers events that I attended.

The things that Coach had to say about being a good husband and father ate me up. He was passionate and on fire about the biblical role of men in the home and the community. It resonated deeply within me. He spoke about racial reconciliation. Having come from a very racially divided community in North Carolina, it really opened my eyes to my own shortcomings and opened my heart to people of other races.

The next year I was at Stand In the Gap in Washington, D.C., where over a million men gathered at the National Mall to repent of their sins, open their hearts to Jesus, and get marching orders to be servant leaders of their homes and communities.

In the following years I went to arena events as a reporter and/or volunteer. I got to meet Coach Mac a few times and have done several interviews with him. He used to have a short, inspirational radio program called “Fourth and Goal.” It was usually what came on my radio each morning when it clicked on as my alarm clock. I would listen to him, then turn off the radio and go start my day. One morning he came on and was reading an abridged version of one of my columns! It was about things that real men do. I was stunned to hear it and was deeply honored.

Shortly after Stand In the Gap, McCartney announced that Promise Keepers events would be free. That was the financial nail in the organization’s coffin. Promise Keepers didn’t die but it has existed on life support. In 2021, I went to a stadium event of theirs in Dallas, but it wasn’t the same.

The last time Mac disappointed me was when he resigned from Promise Keepers in 2003. I didn’t want to see him go, but I respected that he was walking the talk when he stepped aside to care for his ailing wife, Lyndi. By this time he and my church [Rocky Mountain Christian Church] had influenced me to be a man of God and they profoundly impacted the husband and father I would become in my marriage to Sandy.

Bruce Plasket, a former editor of mine, was a good friend of Mac’s. We spoke about Mac’s passing the other day. He recalled Mac as being one of the most strident people he knew, but in a good way. Coach Mac never stood down from controversy, including when his star quarterback impregnated his daughter, or the infamous Fifth Down Game against Missouri. Mac was always boldly outspoken about God and his faith in Jesus Christ. Sometimes that got him in hot water with the politically correct crowd, but he didn’t mind. He always stood by the truth.

Mac was blunt, passionate and compassionate. You always knew where he stood and why. His influence will live on, not only in the sports world, but in the lives and families of millions of men across the nation and around the world. His ministry and influence will impact many generations to come. I miss him and mourn his loss but celebrate that he is in heaven with Jesus and Lyndi. He has finally earned his eternal reward, and that is not disappointing in the least.