In his first appearance in a public forum today, University of Hawai‘i football coach Greg McMackin briefly addressed the issue regarding his gay slur before focusing on the upcoming football season on The Advertiser’s “The Warrior Beat” show.

In his opening statement, McMackin said, “Basically, I made a mistake,” and added that he is working “to make up for that and moving straight ahead to football. So I’m not really going to talk about that anymore. I got a little choked up at the press conference because every player was there to walk me into the room and show me that they had my back. And you know, some people might have thought that was weird, but I got emotional. But I love my players and was really an emotional (time).”
The Warrior Beat Show, which is hosted by staff writers Stephen Tsai and Leila Wai, allows readers to ask the guest questions.
McMackin made his comment during last week’s Western Athletic Conference Media Preview, drawing national attention.
On Friday, UH announced that McMackin would be suspended without pay for 30 days. Earlier, McMackin had agreed to have his $1.1 million annual salary cut 7 percent.
A tearful McMackin apologized during a press conference Friday, held at Stan Sheriff Center and was attended by about 30 UH football players.
Most of the day’s chat focused on football-related questions.
At the end of the show, one reader (Mitch Kahle) commented: “For Coach McMackin: As a person with many gay, lesbian, and transgender friends, I was deeply offended by your use of a hurtful slur, and I immediately wrote letters of complaint to the University. Your public apology was greatly appreciated and obviously sincere. Thank you.”
In response, McMackin said on the show: “You know, thank you. I will say that ... cause I’m not going talk about this anymore. There’s been enough talked about, nationally they want to talk about it, but in Hawai‘i, and across the country, I have emails, I have thousands of positive emails ... because I’m very sincere. I did not mean to do that. I hurt people. I want to do things, I want to make some PSAs and work with the gay, lesbian, community on our campus. I just ... like my wife says, she never heard me use that word in 40 years of marriage. And the thing is, I don’t know how it happened. I made a mistake. Like I said, I’m moving ahead and all I care now about this is this football team. And quite honestly, doing the right things for people. I’ve always taught to treat people with respect and dignity and I appreciate what that person said and what people ... I’ve received about 20-30 emails and letters from people from the gay community that completely understand that I wasn’t meaning anything about their community. I was trying to be funny about how our haka was stronger than Notre Dame and I wasn’t really trying to knock Notre Dame. They didn’t put all the good things I said about Notre Dame in. The thing is, I made a mistake and I feel really bad about it. I’ve expressed that and I’m completely dedicated to my football team and I really appreciate that comment.”