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Viewpoint 11-9: The legacy of Ron McBride

This week, football Head Coach Ron McBride announced his retirement  from his coaching careeer. He was a hero and a legacy and did wonderful things for Weber State University’s football program. He has produced several athletes who have gone on and played in the National Football League.

Coach Mac has been the WSU football head coach for six years. However, his career started back in 1965, when he served as the freshman head coach for San Jose State University.

He started coaching in Utah in 1977, when he coached for the University of Utah. He went through three different stints at the U of U. He served twice as an assistant coach and then became the head coach in 1989. He was the head coach for 13 seasons with the Utes. He had a record of 88-63 for the Utes.

He changed the way the Utes played football forever. He redefined football for them, just like he did for WSU. He came to WSU after two seasons as assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. He was named the ninth head coach for WSU in 2004.

In his six seasons with the ’Cats, Coach Mac has posted a 38-32 overall record. He has also led the Wildcats to the playoffs two times and brought WSU its first Big Sky trophy in 40 years.

Coach Mac recently turned 72 years old. He is the sixth-oldest active head coach in Division I football. His age has not affected his coaching ability.

He has also taken a beating on the sidelines while coaching for the Wildcats. Last year, he got tackled on the sideline and injured his hand. This year, he got pummeled on the sidelines and injured his knee. But don’t worry, Coach Mac fans, he is still doing his thing — only right now he is doing it with a little less umph.

When Coach Mac first came to WSU, T-shirts were made that said “I Back Mac” on the back. Even after Mac is fully retired, those shirts will still be worn proudly by the thousands of people who have them. Little children will still be running around ‘backing Mac.’ Those who truly love Mac might even frame those T-shirts and put them on display in their offices and houses.

The Signpost sports team has had a lot of experiences with Coach Mac. One time at practice, Mac gathered the team around him and told them to take a knee. He looked at them all with a solemn face after he had built a ton of anticipation and said something like “We are not in a happy place. We need to get in a happy place.”

Coach Mac has also had numerous funny quotes, like “We got beat in every facet of the game; we were outplayed, out-coached and out-physicalled.” For those of you who don’t know, “physicalled” is not a word. He also compared his team to air or wind because they played so horribly during the second half of a game that it was like the other team did not have an opponent.

The Signpost tweeted for people to send us their favorite Mac moments. Our favorite that was tweeted in was from @camera_guy_scott. He said that he once heard Coach Mac say the F-bomb during a team prayer.

Coach Mac said the reason he was retiring was because he felt the program was in a good place and that it just needed a new voice at its head.

Well, Coach Mac is not dead, and he is not done with the game of football. He is only “cutting back his hours,” as he referred to it. His raspy old voice will be missed on the sidelines of Stewart Stadium, but we as a staff are excited for his retirement and wish the best for him.

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