Mac, and his possible return to football

There's been plenty of rumors swirling around recently about the possibility that 70 year old Bill McCartney might return to coaching. They've been swirling around enough so that I'm starting to think they are probably not bullshit. They even asked fellow septuagenarian Bill Snyder, who happens to be the cantankerous bastard running the K-State program, about the possible Coach Mac comeback yesterday. Tossing out lines like "If he wanted to go back at the age of 90, he would still be extremely successful," and "Somebody would be very fortunate to have him if he chose to do that," Snyder only fanned the flames burning for Coach Mac's return to the East Sideline of Folsom.

It's easy to look to the past for answers (believe me I know, I majored in history at Dear Old CU), but would the return of Mac be a good thing? Snyder has made a decent re-acclimation to the game, but he was only gone for 3 years, and there were still players on the team that he recruited. Ron Prince had even kept the seat warm by running the same style of program (recruiting JUCO's, etc). It was essentially the same job he had 3 years prior, he just had a sabbatical. Coach Mac, on the other hand, has been out for 16 years. In that time-span not only has the program changed (including 3 coaching changes), but the University, game of football, and indeed world has changed. Should he start next year, he would be recruiting players who were not even born yet when he left the coaching world in 1994 (I'm old). While the read-option spread may be a modernized version of the wishbone, other aspects of the modern coaching world, as Ringo pointed out today, (APR reports, recruiting restrictions, modern media) would be entirely new to Mac. Inherently, weather you want to admit it or not, Coach Snyder's return to the K-State bench is not the same as a potential Coach Mac return; (cliche time) the game has changed.

(It's always nice to think about the glory days, just don't dwell in them)

However, as many would point out, he doesn't have to be your typical head coach. I have jokingly called for myself to become the next CU head coach under the guise that I would be a "cheerleader-in-chief"; that CU would hire me at a minimal salary, and then spend the left over cash on hiring the best assistant coaches in the nation to actually run the team. Obviously, that would be a terrible idea; CU would become even more of a laughing-stock. But a legitimate name, like Bill McCartney, could lead the program respectably while allowing his assistants to "run" the team; assistants including his probable, hand picked, successor.

Being a "leader of men," as Joel Klatt talked about yesterday on 87.7 (and Dan McNeil used to talk about back in Chicago), is a trait that doesn't leave you. Leading wouldn't be Mac's problem like running the team potentially could be. It's from the perspective of team leadership that I would appreciate Coach Mac's return to Dal Ward. Were CU to bring back Mac, they would also need to bring in highly skilled (read: paid) assistants to run the team, recruit, etc. Include a natural successor (Bieniemy?), and I'm on board.
(The next CU coaching staff????? From: The BDC)

Either way, shit-can Hawk.