Sports360AZ
By Kent Somers
Journalists aren’t supposed to become friendly with the people they cover, but some folks make that difficult. With Dave McGinnis, the former Cardinals coach, it was impossible.
It’s safe to assume that nearly everyone who came in contact with McGinnis felt as if they had been punched in the gut on Monday when they heard he had died.
It’s how I felt for a week when I heard McGinnis was seriously ill with kidney and respiratory issues.
He was “Coach Mac” to so many people: former players, NFL owners, broadcasters, sports writers, and interns. Mac not only knew the people who owned NFL training facilities and stadiums, but also the people who cleaned them.
The Athletic’s Dan Pompei, who covered the Bears when McGinnis was an assistant coach in Chicago, wrote that McGinnis left behind a phone containing 3,800 contacts.
I don’t doubt it. McGinnis knew everyone in every building he ever worked. And usually, he knew their life stories, not just their names.
McGinnis, who was 74, came to Arizona in 1996 as Vince Tobin’s defensive coordinator and was promoted to head coach after Tobin was fired midway through the 2000 season.
McGinnis lasted four seasons and was fired after compiling a 17-40 record. But his impact on the Cardinals, the Arizona sports landscape, and, most importantly, the people who came to know him was profound.
Through his charisma and humanity, McGinnis gave the Cardinals a public face and an engaging personality when they needed it most. Without him, the franchise might not have won a stadium vote in 2000. Without him, it might not have drafted Pat Tillman in 1998. Without him, the 1996 through the 2003 seasons would not have been nearly as much fun.
McGinnis’ time with the Cardinals nearly ended in 1999 when he was on the cusp of becoming the Bears’ head coach. The Bears called a press conference to announce the hire, only they had not informed McGinnis of that. Nor had they talked contract.
McGinnis ultimately declined a four-year offer that gave the Bears the option to buy him out after two, and returned to Arizona.
He loved to joke that “I was the head coach of the Bears for six hours, but I only knew it for three.”
His tenure as head coach with the Cardinals was difficult, to say the least. As the team cleared space under the salary cap, the roster became younger and less talented. Losses mounted. That bothered McGinnis, of course, but he never took it out on anyone else. Or lost his sense of humor.
He jokingly referred to beat writers as “gurus.” Every press conference started the same way, with radio reporter Gene Aguirre asking the first question.
“One, two, three, go Geno,” McGinnis would say in his Texas accent.
Players loved him because he didn’t yell or denigrate, but they knew there was a standard. A Cardinals receiver once cost the team a scoring opportunity by not lining up correctly. “A lot of things about this game are hard,” McGinnis told him. “Lining up ain’t one of them.”
Another time, he tried to illustrate to reporters how hard it was getting a concept through to a particular player.
“He stared at me like a cow looking at a gate.”
Another favorite: “Ain’t but one letter difference between hot shit and not shit.”
Coach Mac had a profound influence on players, and they did on him. He was around eight Pro Football Hall of Famers in 31 seasons coaching in the NFL, but he often said Tillman made the biggest impact on him.
In the spring of 2002, the Cardinals called three reporters – myself, Darren Urban (now with azcardinals.com) and Mike Jurecki – to meet with Coach Mac in a small room occasionally used for news conferences.
Pat Tillman is joining the Army, McGinnis said. We were stunned.
“Darren,” Mac said, “you can close your mouth now.”
On the day McGinnis was fired, I reached him on his office phone, and could hear in the background packing tape being ripped off the roll.
“Hear that, Kent?” Mac asked. “That’s the sound of a coach getting fired.”
Titans coach Jeff Fisher quickly hired McGinnis as an assistant, and the two worked together for 13 seasons in Nashville and later for the Rams in St. Louis and Los Angeles.
In 2017, McGinnis became the color analyst for Titans radio. Unofficially, he became a big deal with the titans and in “NashVegas” as he liked to call Nashville.
I last saw him in early October when the Cardinals played the Titans in Glendale. Before the game, “Coach Mac” held court at a table in the eating area in the press box. A number of people either pulled up a chair or stopped briefly to say hello as Mac held court as only he could do.
It’s hard to imagine it was the last time I would hear him tell those stories, but I’m glad I was around for the live versions of a lot of them.
