McMackin era begins
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Video: Football players react favorably to news of McMackin as coach |
By Stephen Tsai
HawaiiWarriorBeat.com Editor
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The "Greg McMackin" name plate is dangling on the office door, a reminder that even the naming of a new University of Hawai'i football coach is a work in progress.
"Can't worry about that," said McMackin, who was on a three-things-at-once schedule during his first day as June Jones' successor. Jones resigned last week to become Southern Methodist's head coach.
McMackin's wife of more than 40 years, Heather, watched in bemusement as he signed forms, crafted plans for this weekend's nine recruiting visits, and ignored his Burger King leftovers — "my only meal today."
McMackin, promoted from defensive coordinator, has a lot of work and little time to fill the five remaining coaching positions on his staff — Rich Miano, Cal Lee, Ron Lee and George Lumpkin are staying — and formulating ways to maintain what he calls "June's legacy."
McMackin promises to be a players' coach — and a coaches' coach — who also can provide, if needed, feisty leadership. That means shedding the "grandfatherly" image painted by author J. David Miller.
"I don't know where I get that label," said McMackin, who once threw a water bottle during an impassioned halftime speech last year. "I am a grandfather, but I'm a young grandfather. I'm a defensive (coach) personality. I'm not a yeller or screamer. But when I get upset, they know it. If you yell and scream all of the time, they won't know when you're really upset. I have my defensive (coach) side."
McMackin, without the help of an agent, secured not only a five-year contract worth $1.1 million annually, but promises of substantial raises for his assistant coaches. Manoa chancellor Virginia Hinshaw said she also will look into giving McMackin's assistant coaches multi-year contracts.
McMackin stopped long enough to chat with The Advertiser.
On his first day as UH head coach:
"It was an interesting day. It was a fun day. We met a lot of neat people, a lot of supportive people. Heather and I enjoyed ourselves."
On applying for the UH head coaching job instead of accepting Jones' offer to serve as SMU's defensive coordinator:
"I was going to Dallas with (Jones). Somebody called me and asked if I would be interested in the job. I said I would in three situations: one that it's quick, one that it's sincere, and one that I have June's blessing on it.
"My (grand)kids are there (in Texas but now will move to Hawai'i). I thought if somebody were interested in me, they'd say something. All of a sudden there's such an outpouring. I can't count how many e-mails. Even on the blog, there was a great response. I was surprised when (Jones) came out and did (endorse). I think the world of June Jones. I have this job because of June Jones. He's the best. There will never be another June Jones. I'll never be able to replace him. I hope I might be able to cement it together to keep things going because he got us to such a level."
On UH hiring Jones' successor in eight days:
"It really fit in for us to get to work, to get recruiting. We had the walk-on tryouts (yesterday), and some of those guys will be invited (to spring practice). And we'll have recruits in this weekend. It's not too late to save recruiting. We lost a few (prospects) just because of the time. But we're not going to panic or go fast because there are going to be guys out there. We have to look a little harder for them. I like to save a couple of scholarships in case somebody comes out of the blue."
On the top recruiting needs:
"We need immediate help at receiver. We need another running back who's bigger, more physical, faster. We need another corner. We'd be smart if we ran into a couple of good offensive linemen. Oh, and we need a JC quarterback to come in and compete and go for it."
On his approach to recruiting:
"Our first priority is the Islands, and then go get as many players as we can from (the South Pacific). And then go after the Polynesian-type kids on the Mainland, or anybody who's an athlete. I think you start here, and then if you have a connection. I had a guy who called me from (the Mainland), who's a friend of one of our players, who has three (years) to play three (three seasons). He's a 290-pound defensive tackle. That kind of guy, you have a connection with.
"I'm going to give Rich and the Lee brothers a (bigger) role in (local) recruiting. Rich and the Lee brothers are legends on these Islands. They know the talent and they know the families. And people trust them. I think we can go back to getting the top guys from here. Per capita, this state has more football players than any other state in the country. You can go to Texas and Florida, and they might have more guys, but not per capita."
On his role in recruiting:
"I want to meet every parent. I want to know what the (player's) character is, how he's been raised. (Parents) want to know who'll be raising their son. I'm really big on home visits and really getting to know the family. I don't mind the travel. That's what you have to do."
On UH's practice schedule:
"I think June's idea of practicing in the morning is genius. It gets the kids up, and you can get your practice done as a coach and then work all day long. When we go on the road, we're playing (in day games) about the time we practice (in Hawai'i). We stay on Hawaiian time. I'm not going to change a lot of things. Obviously, you have to coach your own style, but I'm going to carry on what June has done."
On the staff:
"The guys who are here are Ron (Lee), Cal (Lee), Rich (Miano) and George (Lumpkin). In my mind, George is a great coach. He knows this place. He's been a rock for me. I'm going to find where George wants to coach. George can do, with me, anything he wants. I have that much respect for him. That's four guys (on staff). I guess I'm looking for five (other) guys — a quarterback coach, offensive line coach. I don't know if I'm going to have a running back coach. In this offense, I may have a second offensive line coach that helps with both positions. For the others, there are all kinds of possibilities. There are a couple of guys I have in mind for the defensive line. I'll have two defensive line coaches. There's a lot of flexibility. Obviously Rich will coach the secondary. Cal will coach the linebackers."
On the offense:
"We're going to run the run-and-shoot. I've run the run-and-shoot before. June's a master of the run-and-shoot. We're going to be a little more fundamental. Maybe not as much as Mouse (Davis, the scheme's architect), but sort of in-between. I'll let Ron (Lee, the offensive coordinator) call the plays. Every once in a while, I'll call a couple."
On the starting quarterback job:
"It's open. That's a positive about somebody new coming in. It's like when I came in on defense (last April). Everybody was in the same situation. That's the way it'll be. We'll have a starting point, but everybody will have the same amount of reps (in spring practice). We want to get the best players on the football field."
On his role:
"The thing I don't think is good is when coaches just stand around the whole practice. They got the (head) job because they coached, and then they quit coaching. I can't do that. I'm going to have a big hand in the defense and a little bit of a hand in the offense."
On his coaching style:
"I would say that I'm a player's coach, in that I care about the players. I'm a teacher. I want to teach them the game. I want to be fair. I want to treat the players like men. I don't have a lot of rules, but I have one big rule: don't embarrass the program. That covers about everything. And I want to graduate our players. I want to make sure when a student-athlete comes here, they get the whole experience."
On lobbying for higher pay for assistant coaches:
"I wanted incentives for the whole staff, so that we're working together. If you win the WAC championship, you have an incentive, and the other coaches get a part of it, too. I think you have to take care of your coaches. They have to be happy. They just work harder when they know they're being taken care of."
On his contract negotiations:
"I had agents I could have used. But I didn't want an agent. I just wanted to deal person to person. All I wanted was an attorney to look it over, to make sure that it's guaranteed. We don't have an athletic director, so if a guy came in two years and didn't like me, I want to make sure the five years is guaranteed."
On this year's schedule:
"It's going to be tough. The schedule is really hard. We play four big-time (non-conference) teams. We play Fresno and Boise away. And we lose our whole offensive team. But I believe in the players. I believe in the coaches. I think people will like the coaches I bring in here, because I've known them for a long time, and most of them have some background here."
On creating relationships with local high schools:
"In the spring, I want to get to every school I can get to in Hawai'i, and really get to know these coaches. In spring ball, I want to have a clinic where we bring in all of these (local) coaches, and get to know them, and let them know we want to be with them. We'll have a summer camp, too."
On the uniforms:
"I like our (black) home uniforms. I don't like (the) all white (road uniforms). I like our (dark) helmets."
On his first coaching job — the Aloha High Warriors:
"Isn't that destiny?"
Here are selected quotes from today's press conference announcing the hiring of Greg McMackin as University of Hawai'i football head coach
University of Hawai'i-Manoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw
"Our top priority was finding a demonstrated leader with significant coaching experience and the ability to produce successful student athletes. Also a person who fully appreciates the special connection between UH athletics and the people of Hawai'i and have every capacity to lead us through the transition for current players and coaches.
"Greg McMackin surely meets all of those qualifications and much more. Greg brings passion, ability and proven success to our football program and I have confidence he will lead us to greatness."
UH football head coach Greg McMackin
"Thank you very much. This is a very humbling and exciting time for my wife Heather and I have so many people to thank.
"The people in the process were very wise. We needed to get going and keep the continuity that June has developed here in recruiting and staff members and things such as that."
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"I, number one, just want to thank June Jones. There will never be another June Jones. He's one of a kind. I say it all the time. I've been fortune to be with some great coaches. June Jones is the best coach in the game. What he's done here, going from 0-12 to 12-0, I don't know another coach who could have done that.
"He is responsible for this. Possibly what I can be is the glue to hold it together so that we can continue on. And we're at that point."
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"We have excellent coaches. George Lumpkin, Cal Lee, Rich Miano and Ron Lee over here. There's a reason we were 12-0 and went to the Sugar Bowl. That's because of the coaches we have, but more importantly it's because of the players we have.
"I've coached for 40 years, I really hate to admit that because this was my 40th year of coaching. And the two greatest coaching experiences and I've said that over and over — my wife know this — was in '99 when I came here with June. I didn't there would ever be anything better than that because you could see those kids grow and see them believing. It was a great educational experience, a really fun time. And then the other time was this time.
"This was the greatest year I've ever been involved with. These guys believed in each other. Pastor Norm said at our banquet God was our 12th man and I really believed that. A lot of times it was like we were playing angels in the outfield, 'How are we going to turn this around?' Then Adam Leonard makes a play or Colt (Brennan) makes a play or Keala (Watson) makes a play that just comes out of nowhere. They knew they were going to make the play. They knew were going to win. It's just a class group of guys.
"I appreciate very much the honor and very humble to accept the head football coaching position for the University of Hawai'i Warriors."
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"I think what we have to do is to build on what we have going now. We have something special going on. We have leadership. Every team has a different personality. Honestly, I think defensively we're even going to be better than we were last year. Obviously we lost some good offensive players. The coaches and players are going to have to do a great job of recruiting and get some guys in here, which we are prepared to do.
"We're right at the point where we can be a big-time football program. We can be the Miami of the Pacific, back when Miami won. Because people follow us around now. People know our game and people are excited about our style. We're not going to change our style.
"Ron Lee knows the run-and-shoot as well as anyone. I'm not going to really announce — I know people have been announcing — I'm not going to announce my staff 'til later on. It will be a mixture of coaches that are here and coaches that we bring in. We're going to keep what June has built. There's no reason to fix something that isn't broken."
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"I had the fortune to be on the Denver Gold team when June was the offensive coordinator and Mouse Davis was the head coach.
"The league went down and we were one of the only teams that were still getting paid. We spent six months just clinicking each other so I got notebooks of Mouse Davis talking about the run and shoot.
"I'm going to stay working on the defense, but I know the run-and-shoot. I'm not going to get any anyone's way, but I want to know what we're doing and make some calls every once in awhile just because I like to throw at those other guys every once in awhile, too. They've thrown at me all of my life. I'd like to tell them to go deep every once in awhile.
"I took it (the run-and-shoot) to Oregon Tech. Ron (Lee) was my offensive coordinator and we led the country for four years in total offense because of Ron."
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"Now is the time we need help. Heather and I stay down in Waikiki so we'll go out to dinner every night and see the bellboys and see the waitresses and waiters. Those are the guys who are going (to the games). We have all kinds of people that go, but the working people of Hawai'i are our big fans. They took out loans ... they flew to Atlanta and Florida, however they could to get there (Sugar Bowl). The stories I have heard are unbelievable. We got the greatest fans in the world and we have to keep them and we have to grow. We have to continue to grow. This is the perfect time to get on board."
"Next season is going to be difficult season. The schedule is with two of the better teams (Florida and Oregon State) on the road. But, you know what, I know these guys are going to rise to the occasion. I have all kinds of confidence in them, and that's not going to matter.
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"I really believe that we have to do some recruiting very fast we have two weekends to do it in.
"I'm thankful for giving me this opportunity. I will work as hard as I can. We're going to continue June's legacy and the next time we get to the Sugar Bowl, we're going to kick their ass.
On keeping some of the current staff including Rich Miano, Cal and Ron Lee and George Lumpkin:
"I'd love for them to stay. They're great coaches. They will definitely stay. There are some procedures to go through. They have to re-apply. I have the most respect for all four of those guys as friends. The players love 'em. They will be here, we just have to work out the details."
On putting together the staff:
"I have people in mind. We're going to keep some guys that are here that are really solid coaches and we're going to add some coaches also from people I know from other experiences and guys that fit in to a staff that takes care of its players."
On the UH athletics facilities problem:
"I think that's been dealt with. I should say Chancellor Hinshaw I completely trust. I know she's working on that. President McClain is working on that. Carl Clapp is working on that.
"I don't think the perception was out there on how bad it was. It's not going to happen overnight, but it's happening very timely. I have complete confidence that has to get done. That's something that they believe is going to be a big factor. It's all in the open now. It wouldn't do any good to go over it. It's all for the players. It's to help the players make them comfortable so they can compete — and recruiting.
"Guys that come here when they look out and see we don't have turf on the field, that's an eyesore. I think things have to be done fairly quick and certainly some of them do just so these players know that they are sincere like I believe they are. I think that's what they are doing. I trust them very much."
On what makes him a good fit for Hawai'i:
"They (the selection committee) asked me that last night about the culture and multiculture. I come from Oregon. Heather and I were childhood sweethearts in Oregon. We raised each other basically. Oregon people are like Hawaii people. They're hard-working, they're honest. They try to get along. They have great passion and that's the way Hawaiian people are. We love Hawai'i. We're going to bring our whole family over.
"Tony asked me to tell this story. It's touching to me. You know they live in Lubbock, Texas, my daughter has a business, they (grandchildren) go to school and they're all doing good. When this first happened I was going with June (to SMU) I didn't want to politic for a job or anything and I figured if anybody was interested then they'd say something. June wanted me to go with him because we work well together and trust each other and we've won together.
"You know (grandson) Taylor, I said, 'Taylor somebody called to say they were interested ... they want to know if I'd listen to them about being head coach at Hawai'i.'
"He says — he calls me papa,— 'No, papa, you come to SMU, then I can get right down there, it's a 45-minute flight. I can be there for spring ball.' He thinks he writes half my plays. On my board in there he's got all these little plays down and he has since he has been 3.
"So, an hour later I get this call, he says, 'Papa, you got be a head coach, you gotta go to the University of Hawai'i.'
"So I said, 'You sure? Because it's a lot farther away.'
"And he says, 'That's what you need to do.'
"He told (wife) Heather, he says, 'You know papa has sacrificed for our family,' and because I always wanted to live near him. He said, 'This is papa's day,' and for a 12-year-old that crushed me, so I made up my mind I'm going to bring them all out here and this is where we want to be.
"This is my last contract, unless they extend it. (laughs). We love it here, we feel very comfortable here. No pressure .. but after the second year ..."
On wanting to be a head coach:
"I always wanted to be a head coach.
"I was really at the point where I'd finish off as a defensive coordinator and I loved that. I'm just so thankful that all of you and Chancellor Hinshaw had given me the opportunity to be a head coach because that's what I want to do.
On talking to June Jones while making his decision to apply for the UH job:
I had all kind of discussions. Just his thoughts. I talked to him the night before he made his decision and it was a 50-50 deal. It was really hard for him to leave here. He loves everybody. He loves Hawai'i.
"He wants the best thing for me. He invited me to go there (SMU). We've been very fortunate together and have a lot of respect for each other as coaches. He supported me at the end. I have nothing but great feelings and love for June Jones.
On bringing his family over (from the Mainland), which includes his daughter and two grandchildren:
"We're really excited about just getting our family together. We call it the 'Mack Pack.'
"I just don't want to miss my grandson and granddaughter, who are really my son and daughter, are 12 and 13. I just don't want to miss these years of their lives and they feel the same way. They love Hawai'i.
On recruiting:
"The guys (coaches) have been working really hard. They've been talking to guys. We lost a quarterback we thought was really good from Bakersfield because he was a midterm guy. He visited Tulsa and came home and went back to Tulsa. They put the clothes on him. He was going to come visit us, but there are guys like that. There was one guy, I coached his brother in the pros. If I was going to go there he was going to go there. There's just guys like that. These guys have done a great job. It's all organized and we really have to get out.
"We have to immediately get the guys we've been recruiting. We have two weekends. We have visitations and then when we're done recruiting with this recruiting class. In the spring I need to get into every high school in the state of Hawai'i. I want to get to know the coaches. We are going to keep the good players in Hawai'i. That's going to be the main focus. Rich (Miano) and I are going to Samoa.
"I'm not really worried about this recruiting season because we're going to get who we can get. We're not going to hurry. We want to bring in good kids, so we're not just going to scramble and get anybody that's out there. We're going to get to know their families — home visit them, get to know their character.
"What I'm concerned about is the next two classes. Because Adam's (Leonard) class is pretty solid. We haven't been off the island recruiting in three years. They've done it by telephone. You have to go in and meet the parents. Even here in Hawai'i, we've got to get to know the parents and let them know who's going to be coaching their kids. And that we'll be their fathers and their grandfathers and take care of them and (tell them) they can always come to us. Recruiting is the heartblood of your program."
Visit Tsai's blog at www.HawaiiWarriorBeat.com.
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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