30 for 30 Coach Mac

[WuDrWu]

Did anyone watch this last night, and if so is your opinion (if you had one) changed or galvanized in any way?

I found it intriguing and enlightening.

http://espn.go.com/30for30/film?page=thegospelaccordingtomac

[LuskingforGuttin]

I caught most of it. It was pretty well done. It wasn't as good as Pony Excess or whatever it was called about SMU football but it was still better than a lot of the 30 for 30s.

I will always remember watching the 5th down game with my grandpa. Never saw him that angry. He was generally this very mild mannered man. He was absolutely livid in the aftermath though. He was insistent that CU didn't even score on 5th down. Never saw a Coors in his fridge again after 1990. I think he was boycotting the whole state.

My favorite blogger of all time on Barking Carnival once summarized that era at CU beautifully: "The high point of their program was when their Maoist campus was led by a Fundamentalist Born Again coach who was famous for recruiting Crips from Inner City Houston and Los Angeles and unleashing them on Boulder's lily white student body of rich kids. At the time, Rae Carruth was considered one of their good guys."

[ShockdaWorld]

Haha!! I was growing up in CO during the Coach Mac days. He was a very polarizing figure. People either loved him or hated him. There was no in between. While in college, we used to drive over to Boulder to party after CU wins (I was right on the heels of this, starting at UNC in 1991). It was not uncommon to see multiple football players (not the whole team, but 6-8 guys) at the parties, and most of those in attendance were pretty heavy drinkers. Some handled their alcohol fairly well, others not so much. I always got kick out of watching two or three guys dragging one massive O-Lineman out of a party, because he couldn't stand up on his own when the cops showed up to break up the party. As for a bunch of Crips, I wouldn't be surprised, but never knew it if any of the guys I was around were gang affiliated.

[shockmonster]

Shockda's description of offensive linemen at Colorado isn't unusual for any big time football program of 120+ players. It was common even at Nebraska under Dr. Tom Osborne (known for his FCA leaning coaching staff)who was known as running a pretty disciplined program. Then you had the opposite of disciplined typified as Barry Switzer at Oklahoma who had coaches who rumors said commonly ran Black Jack gambling tables at high school coaching get togethers.

If you listen to descriptions of Coach McCarty as honest, some love him and some hate him but no in between, and McCarty could care less, and there are some comparisons to Coach Marshall.

[shock]

I liked the documentary. I had no prior bias to the guy, so to me he seemed fine. Great, even.


But what do I know. Christian Laettner is my favorite non-WSU baller of all time. I love watching his college tape.