January 24, 2025 • 27 mins
Ron looks back at the life and career of Bill McCartney
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Ron Barr, and this is today's edition of
Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
In our continuing series We Remember, We Remember Bill McCartney,
Hall of fame college football coach who passed away recently.
McCartney's coaching career started as a high school football coach
when he won two Michigan State football championships. Legendary University
(00:24):
of Michigan football coach Bo Schembeckler was so impressed with
McCartney that he hired him as an assistant coach for
the Wolverines.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
After eight years as an assistant at Michigan, McCartney was
hired to replace Chuck Fairbanks as the head coach at
the University of Colorado. In his thirteen seasons at Colorado,
he compiled a ninety three fifty five and five record,
won three consecutive Big Eight Conference titles, and his nineteen
ninety team was crown co National champions. In nineteen ninety four,
(00:53):
the Buffalo has posted an eleven to one record, capped
by a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl
at the end other season. McCartney retired from coaching at
the age of fifty four. I asked him, what was
it that hooked him on coaching?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know, I was seven years old. I knew I
was going to be a coach. People. You know how
you ask little kids what are you going to be
when you grow up? I would always tell everybody I'm
going to be a coach, and say, what do you
mean you're going to be a coach? I said that,
you know, that's what I feel impressed by. And so
my high school coaches, they were role models for me.
(01:29):
You know, I played three sports, and then when I
went to University of Missouri and a football scholarship, the
whole coaching staff was so excellent and so highly motivated,
and that just overwhelmed me. And so right away I
went into high school coaching and I was a hit
football coach, kind of hit basketball coach at the same time.
(01:52):
And my football team and my basketball team both won
the state championships. And that's how I got hired at
the University of Michigan.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, I found it interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I understand you were the only high school coach that
Bo Schambckler ever hired. And I'm just wondering, what was
the pitch to bow that got him so interested to
hire you.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, really, he wanted my quarterback, and he wanted and
you know what happened, He got me and they both
went another day.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
What was it that impressed you about him? A lot
of people I've talked to Jim Harbaugh at length about bow,
I've talked to Woody Hayes even at length about him.
But from your standpoint, a man that was on his staff,
tell me what it was about his style of coaching
and the person he was.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
He's the strongest leader I've ever been around. Everything rises
and falls on leadership, every home, every business, every church.
It's a direct reflection of the leadership. Shim Becker was
stronger than bait box breath. Shim Becker was discipled by
Woody Hayes, and when he came out, he was very bright,
highly motivated, very disciplined, organ and I mean he overwhelmed me.
(03:03):
And when he offered me a job, you know, and
I know I took it. It was the best training
I could possibly get.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
After eight years as an assistant at Michigan, you were
hired to replace Chuck Fairbanks at Colorado.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
First of all, why Colorado?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
What was it in that job that you saw that
intrigued you, and what kind of a program did you
take over, because I know they had struggled badly in
the years before you got there.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You know, I had played at the University of Missouri,
so coming to Boulder and playing in Boulder when I
was a college athlete was very impressive. And you know,
when you're an assistant coach in college, virtually every one
of them want to be a head coach. And so
when the opportunity to come at for a place like
(03:49):
the University of Colorado, that's talk totton. I mean, that's
as good as it gets. And when I came, the
program was on hard times. Chuck Fairbanks had been here
for three years. He was a great coach, but he
only won seven games in three years. So you know,
in college, if if your program's down and your recruiting
(04:12):
classes are affected by it. So when I took over
the program, we were in hard times. We were entitled
to ninety five scholarships, but we only had seventy six
guys on scholarship, so we didn't even use nineteen of
the scholarships we're entitled to. That's the kind of shape
the program was in.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
When you got to your third year in your contract.
Did you think you were going to still be able
to continue as the coach at Colorado? Because two eight
and won the first year, four and seven and eighty
three and one in ten. In eighty four they had
a brand new athletic director there who had been the
ski coach there. And were you afraid you weren't going
to get an extension on that contract?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You better believe it. But you know what he gets
the job, Bill Moaul was his name, and he calls
me in and it gives me a new four year contract,
And so you think, I don't love that guy to
this day. You know, he could see and others could
see that we were delaying a foundation. But you know,
(05:10):
when you're going to build a skyscraper, the higher you
want to build it, deeper you need to dig. And
a lot of the foundation is below the ground hadn't
shown up yet, but we had recruited well and it
was going to pay off if they stuck with this.
What you see happening all over college football is when
coaches get fired, it let go. It undermines the morale
(05:34):
of the kids on campus, and it really affects the
recruiting of the ones that might come. And that's what
sets programs back in Colorado was in the habit of
doing that. So they stuck with me, and that's what
turned it around.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You know, as well as I do a bill that
it starts with talent. And you recruited in Colorado very successfully,
but then you extended out to Texas and also to California.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
What was your pitch to athletes to come to Colorado.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well, you know, when you go to Texas and you
go to California, there's so many really good players, so
much potential because there are big states and football high
school football is very important in those places. And so
I used to go in the home and I would say,
how'd you like to go to a place that has everything.
(06:26):
It's safe, it's compact, it's near a major airport, but
it's a college campus. It's the greatest place where you
can lay a foundation over the next four or five
years for the rest of your life. Boulder, Colorado is
as good as it gets. It's a beautiful place, thirty
miles Fromvember and so I had come from ann Arbor.
(06:49):
An Arbor was similar in the sense of those the
same distance from Detroit, and yet with all fairness. An
Arbor Boulder is as good as it gets, and that's
what we sold.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I've always heard something from my friends, and two of
them being Tom Osborne and also the late Bill Walsh,
when I would talk to them about recruiting, then they
always both they both said this to me, Bill, and
that is, if you sell the mother, you've got the kid.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, to be honest with you, well, you know when
you go into that home and you look across many
times in the African American home, there is no father.
Your mom knows nothing about football. So these people are
all telling her how great her kid is. That she
really knows her kid has issues, you know what I mean.
(07:38):
I guess he's not a finished product. So she's looking
for somebody who is going to take her kid and
make sure that he goes to class, that he gets
a degree, and if he goes on and plays football
after that, that's great, but that's not what she wants.
She doesn't study the NFL. She just knows that this
(07:58):
kid of hers is an imperfect kid and needs to
be corralled. And when you understand that, then you know
how to approach It.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Was the first indication of a turnaround and had it
in the right direction. Did that come in that eighty
six game in which you posted the first victory over
certainly over Nebraska since nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Was that a key moment?
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, absolutely. And when I got the boulder, I said,
keep in mind, I had come from the Michigan Ohio
state rivalry and also the Michigan Michigan state rivalry. And
so when I got the boulder, I said, who's our
rival They said, what do you mean? I said, who's
the team that we point for that we have to beat.
They said, we point for all of them. We have
to beat all of them. I said, no, you don't
(08:41):
get it. So then I waited and I discovered that
Nebraska had looked down on Colorado. They sneered at them,
they disrespected them, they didn't have value attached to them.
And so when I discovered that, I chose Nebraska and
(09:03):
we put that game in red letters, and that's the
one we pointed for.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Let me take you back to the nineteen eighty eight season,
because that was a significant season as well. You had
a star quarterback in Sala Easy and he was diagnosed
with stomach cancer. Tell me a little bit how a
coach deals with that sort of tragedy.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, you know, he was we were an option team,
and he was a tremendous talent. He was just one
of those kids. Was fearless and as a quarterback, he
wanted to run with the football. He didn't want to
pitch it, you know, and that's what you need if
you're going to be an option. To you the guy
the quarterback that wants to keep the ball if you can.
(09:41):
And so when we discovered that he had terminal cancer,
it was bet wrenching, it was heartbreaking, It was devastating
all of us. He was such a great kid and
such a team guy, and you know, it's just all
(10:02):
of us were We swallowed hard and we went through
it together, and you know, when he went home to
be with the Lord, we never really recovered.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, that nineteen eighty nine season, you guys won all
eleven of your regular season games, but you're losing the
Orange Bowl in that game, twenty one to six to
Notre Dame. But it was the nineteen ninety season that
really turned out to be something special. But did you
think it was going to be as special as it
was the way you started one win, one loss in
a time.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, you're right here, one one in one, and then
we won ten in a row and finished eleven one
in one and got a share of the national championship.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
McCartney holds records for the most games coach, most wins,
and most conference wins in the history of the Colorado
Buffalo's football program, and we'll talk to him about two
of his most interesting games in his coaching career as
we continue on Sports Byline.
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Speaker 1 (11:58):
First, you're listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We continue remembering the life and career of Hall of
Fame football coach Bill McCartney.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Bill McCartney has joined us here on Sports Byline. As
I said nineteen ninety, they become co national champions. You
must have thought you had some heavenly intervention there because
you played a game against Missouri, which of course has
become known as the fifth down game.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Do you still smile and chuckle about that a little bit?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Well, keep in mind that that's where I went to school, right,
and you know, I played football there, and I loved
Columbia Missouri and everything, and so how ironic it was
that that would be the game that would have so
much controversy Tod But you know, I never felt guilty
about how we won the game because I always felt
(12:49):
like we had the best team that day on the field.
And you know, the very fact that it got so
much controversy and everything, I'm not sure I handled it
that wall. Never to this day, I felt like we
got something we didn't deserve.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You know, when you take a look at the way
the national championship in college football has decided today, and
think about what it was like in nineteen ninety where
you had two you had a coach's poll and you
had an AP poll as well. Did you feel like
maybe you deserve the national championship or the system was
what the system was, Bill and you just accepted the fate.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, you know, by virtue of the fact that we
played the nation's most difficult schedule. We didn't apologize. But
I think the way they're doing it now is the
best way. You know, you decided on the field. You know,
you know, when you get the media voting on it,
(13:45):
they have so many biases, and you know a lot
of times the guys in the media they vote, they
never played football, but they vote, you know, to me,
that just qualifies them. They're not really qualified to weigh
in on that because they never played the game. But
having said that way, it is right now is the
(14:05):
best they've ever been.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You know, I've said that before too.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
If you've never put on the helmet or the pads,
I don't know how you can evaluate something. And if
you don't see a team, like most of the people
that are voting don't see the team, I don't know
where the legitimacy of what they're voting on takes place. Also,
of course, key to that was a game that you
won in the Orange Balls you faced note your Dame again.
You ended up winning that game ten to nine, but
there was a controversial clipping call that negated a late
(14:31):
punt return for a touchdown by Rock and Ishmael. You've
had a chance to watch the film over the years
you've talked to people.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
What did you come away with on that call?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Well, keep in mind that we had the ball at
midfield and our punter led the nation that year and
that punning. In other words, we had a tremendous punter,
and so the question begs, do you kick it out
of bounds or do you try to kick it through
the upright, because he was capable of doing that. And
(15:03):
when you kick it out of bounds, there's a danger
of a shank, but when you kick it to the upright,
you can really get your leg into it. So I
had to make that decision, and I said kick it
to the upright as well. You know, I knew that
rocket was back there, but you knows whether that was
(15:25):
a legitimate clip or not. Let me just tell you
that it wasn't even close and clearly clipped him from behind.
So I never felt bad about that either, because you
know the way it played itself out. They called the
punt back and we won the game and won the
National championship, and people felt like there was an asterisk
(15:46):
on that, but I never did.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You know, Bill, I love the ebb and flow of sports,
and there's always I've said this publicly and that the
thing I like about sports is there's always a new
way it comes out. And certainly in nineteen ninety four,
you went back to Michigan, take your buffaloes back to Michigan,
and you played a game against Michigan and you ended
up winning that game. And I remember watching that game
on television twenty seven twenty six on the sixty four
(16:10):
yard hail mary pass from Cordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook,
and it's been dubbed the as the miracle at Michigan.
Take me through the sequence at the end of the
game that led to the decisions that you made that
ended up with the result of the victory.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well, just like you explained, you know, I coached at
Michigan for eight and a half years, and to go
back there to ann Arbor and play was talk cotton.
You know, I mean, who could have who could arrange
that to happen? And then when we you know, we're
out there. They had a really good Michigan team and
(16:48):
the game could have gone either way, but we we
this book is a tremendous talent and he would end
up being drafted high in the National Football League. He
was sixty four two hundred and some pounds. He could
run like a deer, and he was very athletic. So
(17:10):
the fact that he got his hands on the ball
and scored was very lucky. There's only six seconds left
in the game so on that play, so it was
a miracle. Who are very fortunate to win, and you know,
I still have a top celebrating the game.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I know, at the end of the ninety four season,
you retired from coaching at the age of fifty four,
which was very very young, and a lot of people
were really surprised by it. And yet I think something
that you said probably summed it up. It was really
about your wife, and you talked about her needs and everything.
Tell me a little bit about the thought process on
that decision.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Well, my wife is with the Lord. Now we were
very a little over fifty years, but she was amazing woman.
And you know, football is intoxicating, it's compelling. I mean,
where else do you see your budget run up and
down a field, you know, I mean, it's just a
tremendous opportunity and challenge and it can be overwhelming. And
(18:17):
what happened to me was I came home. We had
won a really big game, and you know, it was
a national caliber game, and my wife, Wendy, tried to
hide it, but she was hurting. And when I realized
(18:42):
that she was not enjoying this the way I wanted
her to. I wanted to show her that I loved
her more than my job. And the way to do
that was to give up coaching when I was seven
years so I knew I was going to be a
couched here I will. I was at Jill, you know,
(19:04):
playing in the biggest games. But obviously I didn't keep
the balance that you need. I didn't lay down my
life for my wife. I didn't serve her like a
man should serve a woman. And so this gave me
an opportunity to show her how much I loved her,
(19:25):
and so I quit coaching to show my wife that
I loved her.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, it's interesting because you once said a man's job
is to serve his wife and enable her to be
everything that God created her to be. I enjoyed coaching
too much, and that's what pulled me out of it.
But if you think about coaching, I mean, every man
has a career and they are demanding, there's.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
But there's something about coaching which is I at least
in my opinion, I think Bill is more demanding. I mean,
you can't give seventy eighty percent or ninety percent, and
it's so time consuming. Would you recommend to anybody or
how would you you recommend to somebody that wants to
be in coaching to keep the balance.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, my son is the hit football coach of the
large high school and Boulder and his name is Tom,
and Tom does get the right way. He loves his wife, Pam,
has two awesome children. They're twins, Matts and Grace. And
Tom is just as motivated as I was, but he's
(20:26):
always been able to make sure that he puts his
family first. If you put football first, ahead of your family,
ahead of your faith, then you're on, you know, you're
on treacherous territory. But if you keep things balanced, then
those are the best coaches anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You also once said, here's a picture for you. The
game's over, and you talk to the team, and you
meet with the media, and you walk out, and you
know who's the one person standing outside the stadium waiting
for you.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Linda.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Love her with all my heart. And that's why I
got out of coaching. Did you ever reflect back on
that decision and think, well, maybe I could have handled
it a different way, or maybe I could have found
a way to make everybody happy and continue my profession.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
You know, I didn't just make that decision quickly. I
prayed about it day after day. I'm made sure that
I was doing what I believe that the Lord wanted
me to do, and so it wasn't just you know,
the kind of thing where you make a choice on
(21:34):
your own. I took that to the Lord in prayer
for a long time before I made that decision.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You also made another interesting comment because I think most
people know that you were the one that started Promise Keeper,
and you've always been very open about your spirituality and
your religious beliefs. And you also once said, not everybody
wants a coach who has those strong spiritual convictions. It's
offensive to people. Well, it challenges the core of who
(22:01):
we are. How does that coexist comfortably in the world
of sports?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Do you think, well, you're What you just said is
just the it's just the truth. And you know when
people don't believe like you do same convictions that you do.
You know with me, see, it's like this, one out
of one die. Have you ever met anybody who isn't
(22:27):
going to die? Okay, we're all going to die. Now.
The consequences I believe are eternal. You either go to
Heaven or you go to Hell. That's harsh, but that's
what the Bible says. So if you believe that it's
going to be offensive. It's gonna across people in the
wrong way because it's such a strong conviction. I mean,
(22:52):
you know, people would rather just keep your mouth shut
if you believe something like that. But the Bible says
without faith, it's impossible to please God. You must believe
he is God, and you must believe He rewards those
who diligently seek him. See, he rewards the whole hearted.
He doesn't reward the deafty ducker or the half stepper.
(23:16):
He rewards those you really all in or not in
at all. And so you know, because I believe that,
you know, it was real easy for me to be outspoken.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Was it also hard for some of your players, who
maybe were not as committed as you were to the
way you felt to accept that. Because I'll give you
an example for just a second, Bill, and that was
here in San Francisco. There were a number of players
that the media called the God squad, and it seemed
that after a Giant's loss that some of them would say, well,
(23:51):
I guess God didn't want me to win the game today,
And that really caused some controversy.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Here.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Can you give me some perspective on that?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, But what I would do. As it relates to
sharing my faith. Is every year when the team reports
back for the new season, it's sometime in August. There's
great excitement in the room. You haven't practiced yet. The
players have been apart during the summer and their respective
(24:19):
communities around the country, and when they come back, that
first meeting is important. And I used to say, okay, guys,
to cover some things in this first meeting that are
never going to bring up again. I want you to
know these things about me, but I'll never impose them
(24:39):
on you. And one of those things was I would
share with them that I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and the savior of the world,
and that God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son, that whoso ever believeth in him
shall not perish, but have life everlasting. Well, I would
(25:00):
say something like that to him. I would say, I
believe that Jesus died for my sins. And I said,
I'll never bring it up again, but if you ever
want to talk to me about spiritual things, my door's open.
You can come in and you can bring them up
and we'll go deeper. And some kids did and most didn't.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
We only have a minute left.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
But I'm wondering, when you reflect back on your football life,
is there anything that's ingrained in your mind that you
kind of smile about and you think about from.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Time to time.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, you know, football is a game where a boy
becomes a man. Think about it. There's nothing easy about it.
What if you line up across from a guy who's bigger, stronger, faster,
and tougher than you are, what do you do? Turn
and run? No, you stay and play. Well, that's what
happens in life. We come up against circumstances, we come
(25:57):
up against obstacles, but you have to turn and run.
You have to stay and play football teachers that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Also, when you think back on your career and you
did walk away, how long did it get to take
you to get comfortable with the fact that you were retired.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Oh I've never gotten comfortable. No, I you know, Uh yeah,
I'll always be a coach. And the very fact that
my son's a high school coach here locally at Peththawks.
And then my son, my oldest son, Mike, he's an
NFL player agent, even negotiates contracts for the NFL players.
(26:36):
So these two guys keep me in the roop.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Bill McCartney a Hall of Fame football coach who was
successful on and off the field. He won a number
of national coaching awards, including the Watercamp Coach of the
Year Award and the Paul Bear Bryant Award. Three times
he was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year.
Bill McCartney, Gone but never forgotten.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
On Sports Byline, you have been listening ding to Ron
Bar's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Hi, I'm Ron Barr, and this is today's edition of
Ron Barr's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
In our continuing series We Remember, We Remember Bill McCartney,
Hall of fame college football coach who passed away recently.
McCartney's coaching career started as a high school football coach
when he won two Michigan State football championships. Legendary University
(00:24):
of Michigan football coach Bo Schembeckler was so impressed with
McCartney that he hired him as an assistant coach for
the Wolverines.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
After eight years as an assistant at Michigan, McCartney was
hired to replace Chuck Fairbanks as the head coach at
the University of Colorado. In his thirteen seasons at Colorado,
he compiled a ninety three fifty five and five record,
won three consecutive Big Eight Conference titles, and his nineteen
ninety team was crown co National champions. In nineteen ninety four,
(00:53):
the Buffalo has posted an eleven to one record, capped
by a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl
at the end other season. McCartney retired from coaching at
the age of fifty four. I asked him, what was
it that hooked him on coaching?
Speaker 3 (01:08):
You know, I was seven years old. I knew I
was going to be a coach. People. You know how
you ask little kids what are you going to be
when you grow up? I would always tell everybody I'm
going to be a coach, and say, what do you
mean you're going to be a coach? I said that,
you know, that's what I feel impressed by. And so
my high school coaches, they were role models for me.
(01:29):
You know, I played three sports, and then when I
went to University of Missouri and a football scholarship, the
whole coaching staff was so excellent and so highly motivated,
and that just overwhelmed me. And so right away I
went into high school coaching and I was a hit
football coach, kind of hit basketball coach at the same time.
(01:52):
And my football team and my basketball team both won
the state championships. And that's how I got hired at
the University of Michigan.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
You know, I found it interesting.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I understand you were the only high school coach that
Bo Schambckler ever hired. And I'm just wondering, what was
the pitch to bow that got him so interested to
hire you.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, really, he wanted my quarterback, and he wanted and
you know what happened, He got me and they both
went another day.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
What was it that impressed you about him? A lot
of people I've talked to Jim Harbaugh at length about bow,
I've talked to Woody Hayes even at length about him.
But from your standpoint, a man that was on his staff,
tell me what it was about his style of coaching
and the person he was.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
He's the strongest leader I've ever been around. Everything rises
and falls on leadership, every home, every business, every church.
It's a direct reflection of the leadership. Shim Becker was
stronger than bait box breath. Shim Becker was discipled by
Woody Hayes, and when he came out, he was very bright,
highly motivated, very disciplined, organ and I mean he overwhelmed me.
(03:03):
And when he offered me a job, you know, and
I know I took it. It was the best training
I could possibly get.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
After eight years as an assistant at Michigan, you were
hired to replace Chuck Fairbanks at Colorado.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
First of all, why Colorado?
Speaker 1 (03:17):
What was it in that job that you saw that
intrigued you, and what kind of a program did you
take over, because I know they had struggled badly in
the years before you got there.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
You know, I had played at the University of Missouri,
so coming to Boulder and playing in Boulder when I
was a college athlete was very impressive. And you know,
when you're an assistant coach in college, virtually every one
of them want to be a head coach. And so
when the opportunity to come at for a place like
(03:49):
the University of Colorado, that's talk totton. I mean, that's
as good as it gets. And when I came, the
program was on hard times. Chuck Fairbanks had been here
for three years. He was a great coach, but he
only won seven games in three years. So you know,
in college, if if your program's down and your recruiting
(04:12):
classes are affected by it. So when I took over
the program, we were in hard times. We were entitled
to ninety five scholarships, but we only had seventy six
guys on scholarship, so we didn't even use nineteen of
the scholarships we're entitled to. That's the kind of shape
the program was in.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
When you got to your third year in your contract.
Did you think you were going to still be able
to continue as the coach at Colorado? Because two eight
and won the first year, four and seven and eighty
three and one in ten. In eighty four they had
a brand new athletic director there who had been the
ski coach there. And were you afraid you weren't going
to get an extension on that contract?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You better believe it. But you know what he gets
the job, Bill Moaul was his name, and he calls
me in and it gives me a new four year contract,
And so you think, I don't love that guy to
this day. You know, he could see and others could
see that we were delaying a foundation. But you know,
(05:10):
when you're going to build a skyscraper, the higher you
want to build it, deeper you need to dig. And
a lot of the foundation is below the ground hadn't
shown up yet, but we had recruited well and it
was going to pay off if they stuck with this.
What you see happening all over college football is when
coaches get fired, it let go. It undermines the morale
(05:34):
of the kids on campus, and it really affects the
recruiting of the ones that might come. And that's what
sets programs back in Colorado was in the habit of
doing that. So they stuck with me, and that's what
turned it around.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You know, as well as I do a bill that
it starts with talent. And you recruited in Colorado very successfully,
but then you extended out to Texas and also to California.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
What was your pitch to athletes to come to Colorado.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Well, you know, when you go to Texas and you
go to California, there's so many really good players, so
much potential because there are big states and football high
school football is very important in those places. And so
I used to go in the home and I would say,
how'd you like to go to a place that has everything.
(06:26):
It's safe, it's compact, it's near a major airport, but
it's a college campus. It's the greatest place where you
can lay a foundation over the next four or five
years for the rest of your life. Boulder, Colorado is
as good as it gets. It's a beautiful place, thirty
miles Fromvember and so I had come from ann Arbor.
(06:49):
An Arbor was similar in the sense of those the
same distance from Detroit, and yet with all fairness. An
Arbor Boulder is as good as it gets, and that's
what we sold.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I've always heard something from my friends, and two of
them being Tom Osborne and also the late Bill Walsh,
when I would talk to them about recruiting, then they
always both they both said this to me, Bill, and
that is, if you sell the mother, you've got the kid.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, to be honest with you, well, you know when
you go into that home and you look across many
times in the African American home, there is no father.
Your mom knows nothing about football. So these people are
all telling her how great her kid is. That she
really knows her kid has issues, you know what I mean.
(07:38):
I guess he's not a finished product. So she's looking
for somebody who is going to take her kid and
make sure that he goes to class, that he gets
a degree, and if he goes on and plays football
after that, that's great, but that's not what she wants.
She doesn't study the NFL. She just knows that this
(07:58):
kid of hers is an imperfect kid and needs to
be corralled. And when you understand that, then you know
how to approach It.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Was the first indication of a turnaround and had it
in the right direction. Did that come in that eighty
six game in which you posted the first victory over
certainly over Nebraska since nineteen sixty seven.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
Was that a key moment?
Speaker 5 (08:19):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, absolutely. And when I got the boulder, I said,
keep in mind, I had come from the Michigan Ohio
state rivalry and also the Michigan Michigan state rivalry. And
so when I got the boulder, I said, who's our
rival They said, what do you mean? I said, who's
the team that we point for that we have to beat.
They said, we point for all of them. We have
to beat all of them. I said, no, you don't
(08:41):
get it. So then I waited and I discovered that
Nebraska had looked down on Colorado. They sneered at them,
they disrespected them, they didn't have value attached to them.
And so when I discovered that, I chose Nebraska and
(09:03):
we put that game in red letters, and that's the
one we pointed for.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Let me take you back to the nineteen eighty eight season,
because that was a significant season as well. You had
a star quarterback in Sala Easy and he was diagnosed
with stomach cancer. Tell me a little bit how a
coach deals with that sort of tragedy.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, you know, he was we were an option team,
and he was a tremendous talent. He was just one
of those kids. Was fearless and as a quarterback, he
wanted to run with the football. He didn't want to
pitch it, you know, and that's what you need if
you're going to be an option. To you the guy
the quarterback that wants to keep the ball if you can.
(09:41):
And so when we discovered that he had terminal cancer,
it was bet wrenching, it was heartbreaking, It was devastating
all of us. He was such a great kid and
such a team guy, and you know, it's just all
(10:02):
of us were We swallowed hard and we went through
it together, and you know, when he went home to
be with the Lord, we never really recovered.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Yeah, that nineteen eighty nine season, you guys won all
eleven of your regular season games, but you're losing the
Orange Bowl in that game, twenty one to six to
Notre Dame. But it was the nineteen ninety season that
really turned out to be something special. But did you
think it was going to be as special as it
was the way you started one win, one loss in
a time.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Yeah, you're right here, one one in one, and then
we won ten in a row and finished eleven one
in one and got a share of the national championship.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
McCartney holds records for the most games coach, most wins,
and most conference wins in the history of the Colorado
Buffalo's football program, and we'll talk to him about two
of his most interesting games in his coaching career as
we continue on Sports Byline.
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Speaker 1 (11:58):
First, you're listening to Ron Bars Sports Byline USA podcast.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
We continue remembering the life and career of Hall of
Fame football coach Bill McCartney.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Bill McCartney has joined us here on Sports Byline. As
I said nineteen ninety, they become co national champions. You
must have thought you had some heavenly intervention there because
you played a game against Missouri, which of course has
become known as the fifth down game.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Do you still smile and chuckle about that a little bit?
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Well, keep in mind that that's where I went to school, right,
and you know, I played football there, and I loved
Columbia Missouri and everything, and so how ironic it was
that that would be the game that would have so
much controversy Tod But you know, I never felt guilty
about how we won the game because I always felt
(12:49):
like we had the best team that day on the field.
And you know, the very fact that it got so
much controversy and everything, I'm not sure I handled it
that wall. Never to this day, I felt like we
got something we didn't deserve.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You know, when you take a look at the way
the national championship in college football has decided today, and
think about what it was like in nineteen ninety where
you had two you had a coach's poll and you
had an AP poll as well. Did you feel like
maybe you deserve the national championship or the system was
what the system was, Bill and you just accepted the fate.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Yeah, you know, by virtue of the fact that we
played the nation's most difficult schedule. We didn't apologize. But
I think the way they're doing it now is the
best way. You know, you decided on the field. You know,
you know, when you get the media voting on it,
(13:45):
they have so many biases, and you know a lot
of times the guys in the media they vote, they
never played football, but they vote, you know, to me,
that just qualifies them. They're not really qualified to weigh
in on that because they never played the game. But
having said that way, it is right now is the
(14:05):
best they've ever been.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
You know, I've said that before too.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
If you've never put on the helmet or the pads,
I don't know how you can evaluate something. And if
you don't see a team, like most of the people
that are voting don't see the team, I don't know
where the legitimacy of what they're voting on takes place. Also,
of course, key to that was a game that you
won in the Orange Balls you faced note your Dame again.
You ended up winning that game ten to nine, but
there was a controversial clipping call that negated a late
(14:31):
punt return for a touchdown by Rock and Ishmael. You've
had a chance to watch the film over the years
you've talked to people.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
What did you come away with on that call?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Well, keep in mind that we had the ball at
midfield and our punter led the nation that year and
that punning. In other words, we had a tremendous punter,
and so the question begs, do you kick it out
of bounds or do you try to kick it through
the upright, because he was capable of doing that. And
(15:03):
when you kick it out of bounds, there's a danger
of a shank, but when you kick it to the upright,
you can really get your leg into it. So I
had to make that decision, and I said kick it
to the upright as well. You know, I knew that
rocket was back there, but you knows whether that was
(15:25):
a legitimate clip or not. Let me just tell you
that it wasn't even close and clearly clipped him from behind.
So I never felt bad about that either, because you
know the way it played itself out. They called the
punt back and we won the game and won the
National championship, and people felt like there was an asterisk
(15:46):
on that, but I never did.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You know, Bill, I love the ebb and flow of sports,
and there's always I've said this publicly and that the
thing I like about sports is there's always a new
way it comes out. And certainly in nineteen ninety four,
you went back to Michigan, take your buffaloes back to Michigan,
and you played a game against Michigan and you ended
up winning that game. And I remember watching that game
on television twenty seven twenty six on the sixty four
(16:10):
yard hail mary pass from Cordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook,
and it's been dubbed the as the miracle at Michigan.
Take me through the sequence at the end of the
game that led to the decisions that you made that
ended up with the result of the victory.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well, just like you explained, you know, I coached at
Michigan for eight and a half years, and to go
back there to ann Arbor and play was talk cotton.
You know, I mean, who could have who could arrange
that to happen? And then when we you know, we're
out there. They had a really good Michigan team and
(16:48):
the game could have gone either way, but we we
this book is a tremendous talent and he would end
up being drafted high in the National Football League. He
was sixty four two hundred and some pounds. He could
run like a deer, and he was very athletic. So
(17:10):
the fact that he got his hands on the ball
and scored was very lucky. There's only six seconds left
in the game so on that play, so it was
a miracle. Who are very fortunate to win, and you know,
I still have a top celebrating the game.
Speaker 4 (17:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I know, at the end of the ninety four season,
you retired from coaching at the age of fifty four,
which was very very young, and a lot of people
were really surprised by it. And yet I think something
that you said probably summed it up. It was really
about your wife, and you talked about her needs and everything.
Tell me a little bit about the thought process on
that decision.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Well, my wife is with the Lord. Now we were
very a little over fifty years, but she was amazing woman.
And you know, football is intoxicating, it's compelling. I mean,
where else do you see your budget run up and
down a field, you know, I mean, it's just a
tremendous opportunity and challenge and it can be overwhelming. And
(18:17):
what happened to me was I came home. We had
won a really big game, and you know, it was
a national caliber game, and my wife, Wendy, tried to
hide it, but she was hurting. And when I realized
(18:42):
that she was not enjoying this the way I wanted
her to. I wanted to show her that I loved
her more than my job. And the way to do
that was to give up coaching when I was seven
years so I knew I was going to be a
couched here I will. I was at Jill, you know,
(19:04):
playing in the biggest games. But obviously I didn't keep
the balance that you need. I didn't lay down my
life for my wife. I didn't serve her like a
man should serve a woman. And so this gave me
an opportunity to show her how much I loved her,
(19:25):
and so I quit coaching to show my wife that
I loved her.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, it's interesting because you once said a man's job
is to serve his wife and enable her to be
everything that God created her to be. I enjoyed coaching
too much, and that's what pulled me out of it.
But if you think about coaching, I mean, every man
has a career and they are demanding, there's.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
No doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
But there's something about coaching which is I at least
in my opinion, I think Bill is more demanding. I mean,
you can't give seventy eighty percent or ninety percent, and
it's so time consuming. Would you recommend to anybody or
how would you you recommend to somebody that wants to
be in coaching to keep the balance.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well, my son is the hit football coach of the
large high school and Boulder and his name is Tom,
and Tom does get the right way. He loves his wife, Pam,
has two awesome children. They're twins, Matts and Grace. And
Tom is just as motivated as I was, but he's
(20:26):
always been able to make sure that he puts his
family first. If you put football first, ahead of your family,
ahead of your faith, then you're on, you know, you're
on treacherous territory. But if you keep things balanced, then
those are the best coaches anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You also once said, here's a picture for you. The
game's over, and you talk to the team, and you
meet with the media, and you walk out, and you
know who's the one person standing outside the stadium waiting
for you.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Linda.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Love her with all my heart. And that's why I
got out of coaching. Did you ever reflect back on
that decision and think, well, maybe I could have handled
it a different way, or maybe I could have found
a way to make everybody happy and continue my profession.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
You know, I didn't just make that decision quickly. I
prayed about it day after day. I'm made sure that
I was doing what I believe that the Lord wanted
me to do, and so it wasn't just you know,
the kind of thing where you make a choice on
(21:34):
your own. I took that to the Lord in prayer
for a long time before I made that decision.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
You also made another interesting comment because I think most
people know that you were the one that started Promise Keeper,
and you've always been very open about your spirituality and
your religious beliefs. And you also once said, not everybody
wants a coach who has those strong spiritual convictions. It's
offensive to people. Well, it challenges the core of who
(22:01):
we are. How does that coexist comfortably in the world
of sports?
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Do you think, well, you're What you just said is
just the it's just the truth. And you know when
people don't believe like you do same convictions that you do.
You know with me, see, it's like this, one out
of one die. Have you ever met anybody who isn't
(22:27):
going to die? Okay, we're all going to die. Now.
The consequences I believe are eternal. You either go to
Heaven or you go to Hell. That's harsh, but that's
what the Bible says. So if you believe that it's
going to be offensive. It's gonna across people in the
wrong way because it's such a strong conviction. I mean,
(22:52):
you know, people would rather just keep your mouth shut
if you believe something like that. But the Bible says
without faith, it's impossible to please God. You must believe
he is God, and you must believe He rewards those
who diligently seek him. See, he rewards the whole hearted.
He doesn't reward the deafty ducker or the half stepper.
(23:16):
He rewards those you really all in or not in
at all. And so you know, because I believe that,
you know, it was real easy for me to be outspoken.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Was it also hard for some of your players, who
maybe were not as committed as you were to the
way you felt to accept that. Because I'll give you
an example for just a second, Bill, and that was
here in San Francisco. There were a number of players
that the media called the God squad, and it seemed
that after a Giant's loss that some of them would say, well,
(23:51):
I guess God didn't want me to win the game today,
And that really caused some controversy.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
Here.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
Can you give me some perspective on that?
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, But what I would do. As it relates to
sharing my faith. Is every year when the team reports
back for the new season, it's sometime in August. There's
great excitement in the room. You haven't practiced yet. The
players have been apart during the summer and their respective
(24:19):
communities around the country, and when they come back, that
first meeting is important. And I used to say, okay, guys,
to cover some things in this first meeting that are
never going to bring up again. I want you to
know these things about me, but I'll never impose them
(24:39):
on you. And one of those things was I would
share with them that I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and the savior of the world,
and that God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son, that whoso ever believeth in him
shall not perish, but have life everlasting. Well, I would
(25:00):
say something like that to him. I would say, I
believe that Jesus died for my sins. And I said,
I'll never bring it up again, but if you ever
want to talk to me about spiritual things, my door's open.
You can come in and you can bring them up
and we'll go deeper. And some kids did and most didn't.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
We only have a minute left.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
But I'm wondering, when you reflect back on your football life,
is there anything that's ingrained in your mind that you
kind of smile about and you think about from.
Speaker 4 (25:32):
Time to time.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, you know, football is a game where a boy
becomes a man. Think about it. There's nothing easy about it.
What if you line up across from a guy who's bigger, stronger, faster,
and tougher than you are, what do you do? Turn
and run? No, you stay and play. Well, that's what
happens in life. We come up against circumstances, we come
(25:57):
up against obstacles, but you have to turn and run.
You have to stay and play football teachers that.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Also, when you think back on your career and you
did walk away, how long did it get to take
you to get comfortable with the fact that you were retired.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Oh I've never gotten comfortable. No, I you know, Uh yeah,
I'll always be a coach. And the very fact that
my son's a high school coach here locally at Peththawks.
And then my son, my oldest son, Mike, he's an
NFL player agent, even negotiates contracts for the NFL players.
(26:36):
So these two guys keep me in the roop.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Bill McCartney a Hall of Fame football coach who was
successful on and off the field. He won a number
of national coaching awards, including the Watercamp Coach of the
Year Award and the Paul Bear Bryant Award. Three times
he was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year.
Bill McCartney, Gone but never forgotten.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
On Sports Byline, you have been listening ding to Ron
Bar's Sports Byline USA podcast on the eight Side Network.
Host
Ron Barr
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