Bill McCartney, the legendary University of Colorado football coach who led the Buffaloes to the co-national championship in 1990, has been diagnosed with late onset dementia/Alzheimer’s, his family announced Monday.
McCartney, who is three weeks shy of his 76th birthday, has been dealing with symptoms of short-term memory loss for the past two years.
“I will tell you my dad’s in great physical shape,’’ Mike McCartney, one of the four children born and raised by Bill and Lyndi McCartney, told 9NEWS. “He’s got his long-term memory completely intact. What we’re dealing with is his short-term memory. He’s still coach Mac. He’s vibrant. He rides his bike three or four times a day. He golfs, he’s active with his friends. Very active with his church. Every Sunday morning he still leads a 5-minute devotional for his church. And from what I hear does a great job.
“He’s just really struggling with short-term memory and we as a family are asking for prayer and heaven forbid if he were ever in a compromising position and someone knew what was going on they could help him. And also we believe there are hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- who will pray for him.’’
McCartney is the second iconic football figure in the Denver area in two years to reveal the affliction with the irreversible, progressive brain disorder that cripples a person’s short-term memory. The family of Pat Bowlen announced in July 2014 that the beloved Denver Broncos’ owner had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s.
"I'm saddened for the McCartney family today,'' said Beth Bowlen Wallace, one of Pat's seven children, who has been a leader in several Alzheimer's Association functions. "I was a student at the University of Colorado when the Buffs won their national championship under Coach McCartney and hearing news of another person afflicted with this terrible disease weighs heavy on my heart. My thoughts and prayers and support go out to the McCartney family through this journey. It is a difficult journey.''
No one familiar with McCartney’s life story will be surprised he and his family decided to publicly share his affliction. During his coaching days from 1982-94 at CU, he was never been afraid to eulogize his faith -- even at the consternation of top CU officials.
He publicly revealed an extramarital affair that occurred early in his marriage. He also spoke openly about how two of his 10 grandchildren were fathered by two of his former players, one by quarterback Sal Aunese, who was 21 when he died of stomach cancer in September, 1989. One grandson, Derek McCartney, is a star pass rusher for the current CU Buffs.
“Those who knew him well, he’s a guy that talks the talk, walks the walk,’’ said Matt Russell, the Broncos’ director of player personnel who was a star linebacker for the Buffs during McCartney’s final three coaching seasons of 1992-94. “He’s convicted. He is very proud of who he is – whether you like it or not. He doesn’t feel like he needs to hide anything. And he shouldn’t.’’
Said Alfred Williams, a star on the Buffs' teams that played for the national championship in back-to-back seasons of 1989-90: "He was the reason to choose to play at Colorado. I tell everybody that when you choose a college, you shouldn't choose for the facility or the history of the program. You should choose it for the man who's leading the program. Coach Mac was the perfect leader of men.''
Mike McCartney, who grew up in Boulder and is now an NFL agent to quarterbacks Kirk Cousins of Washington and the Broncos’ Trevor Siemian, is serving as the family spokesman, said It was during the family's annual late-June gathering in Breckenridge that it became evident to his loved ones that his condition had taken a serious turn.
“At that point we prayed about revealing it and asking people to pray,’’ Mike McCartney said. “We wanted people to know so they wouldn’t be offended if he doesn’t remember a name or a face.’’
Although several of his former players were aware of his struggles, the announcement Monday was still jolting.
“The whole McCartney family has a special place in my heart, and my family’s heart,” Russell said. “I consider them family. They’ve all given themselves to over a 1,000 guys that Mac coached at CU. I think they’ll see an outpouring of love and support from the very guys that he coached. Our undying support will always be with coach Mac and his family.”
McCartney was Bo Schemblecher’s defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan when he was hired away by CU in June 1982 to take over a Buff program that in three previous seasons under Chuck Fairbanks went 3-8, 1-10 and 3-8.
It took a while for McCartney to build up the program as CU went 2-8-1, 4-7 and 1-10 in his first three seasons. But starting in 1985, the Buffs finished 7-5 and went to the first of nine bowl games in a 10-year period.
In McCartney’s final 10 seasons the Buffs went 86-30-4, highlighted by their 11-1 and 11-1-1 season in 1989-90 when they went into the Orange Bowl as the nation’s No. 1 ranked team.
"He's just a unique character in the sports landscape in this state," Williams said. "He's a winner. When he set a goal for us to beat Nebraska, it was one of the only times in my life when a program was built for this one moment. That steady focus on one job all the time, whether it was, for me, as an outside linebacker defeating a reach block, or making sure I take on a base block the right way. He could nail down the specifics of the year on a daily basis so it all built up to the big moment, and then when the big moments came we were good."
The Buffs beat the Cornhuskers in 1989 and 1990. No one has ever been a more successful recruiter before or since McCartney. The Buffs were 11-1 in 1994 a team in which an astounding 21 regulars were selected in the NFL draft. That lone loss? To Nebraska.
Soon after that season, though, McCartney shockingly resigned with multiple years left on his contract. He later explained he looked in his wife’s eyes during a church service and did not see a happy woman.
Besides devoting more time to Lyndi, who died in 2013, McCartney became heavily involved in Promise Keepers, a Christian men’s group he founded. The group filled football stadiums and basketball arenas with its conferences from 1995-2003.
“We are making this public to ask for your understanding and patience as we know he frequently runs into fans, friends and former players,” the McCartney family said in a statement. “This is a frustrating and confusing disease, and if he appears disconnected or unknowing, please don’t take it personally.
“Please keep Coach Mac in your thoughts and prayers as we navigate through this difficult time.”
