 
10 questions with Mac McWhorter
May 26, 2007
When did you know you wanted to become a football coach? I finished my college career in 1973, and I really wasn't going into coaching. My dad was in charge of all the team sales for a sporting goods company in Georgia, and he knew all the high school coaches. One of the high school coaches called and asked if I'd coach his offensive line, but I was going to sell real estate. He asked me to try it for a year to see if I liked it. I tried it and ended up liking it. What is your favorite part about being a football coach? The kids. This will be my 34th year and just to have coached kids, years and years ago, and see them grow, mature, graduate and have families is special. My wife puts pictures from Christmas cards on the refrigerator and probably 75 percent of them are from old players. What is your favorite part about coaching at The University of Texas? I think it is the people. We have great fans here. We have the chance to get great players who are great people, which makes it a lot more fun. Also, this is the best place I've ever coached because it has great resources. Who has been the biggest influence on your life? Most of the biggest influences that I've had in my life have been coaches. John Kasay was our freshman offensive line coach at Georgia and was one of the strength coaches. He really developed me to where I could play and was a great influence as far as tenacity. Also, there was Erk Russell and coach (Vince) Dooley (at Georgia). There have been just so many coaches that influenced my life. Who has been the biggest influence on your coaching career? Bill Curry was a tremendous influence on my life. He was the first head coach to give me a chance to coach in college. I idolized him as a youth when he was playing for Green Bay and making Pro Bowls. He gave me a job at Georgia Tech. He was a great role model for me because of the kind of person he was. He was a big influence on me in all phases of my life.
What has been your proudest moment in coaching? I've had a lot of real proud moments. Winning the National Championship was very special, but I get so proud of the guys who come through here and go on to accomplish something. I'm proud of the guys who played it through to the end regardless of how much talent they had or how much playing time they got. What player(s) that you've coached do you believe got the most out of their ability? There are numerous players that fall into that category. Will Allen is one that comes to mind. He was an All-Big 12 player and a really good player for us, who had average ability. Jason Glynn was undersized, but was really good. Tillman Holloway was the same way. You hear a lot about the great ones like Mike Williams and Leonard Davis. There are only a few of those guys, but I've been around a lot of the guys who got the most out of their ability. Players are often asked about their pre-game routines. Do you have anything special you regularly do just before a game? I think we all have superstitions. Any time you are winning, whatever you did the week before, you don't want to change it. But, if you ever lose, then all bets are off. I've worn the same gameday clothes for a whole season. I did wash them, but they were the same clothes. What do you think you would be doing if you had never gotten into coaching? I think if I would have gone into real estate in Atlanta in 1973. I'd probably be a billionaire and wouldn't have to be working (laughing). Really, coaching is all I've ever done, but I would probably be in some form of the people business. Do you have any special talents outside of football or what is your favorite thing to do away from football? I enjoy being with my wife and kids. They are grown now and through this career, you are limited to the time you can spend with them, so I really enjoy the time with them. I've really enjoyed having my son on our team because I've seen him a lot in the last two years. My daughter had a baby, so we have a granddaughter now, so I'd say spending time with my family. |
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