University of Hawaii’s head football coach suspended over gay slur
University of Hawaii head football coach Greg McMackin has been suspended for 30 days without pay and has volunteered to take an additional 7 percent pay cut from his $1.1 million salary for using a gay slur while describing Notre Dame’s chant before last year’s Hawaii Bowl.
Thursday during a media briefing at the Western Athletic Conference football preview in Salt Lake City that was also attended by WAC commissioner Karl Benson, McMackin said, “I know most of the coaches in the country are rooting for us to beat Notre Dame,” McMackin said. “Charlie gives this talk, ‘We do something special at Notre Dame,’ and (the players) get up and they do this little cheer … this little faggot dance.”
But soon, McMackin backtracked and asked the journalists in the room not to report on what he said, “Don’t write that ‘faggot’ down. I was misquoted,” he said. “Just please … cover for me… Go ahead; say ‘faggot dance.’ No. Please cover for me on that, too — right Karl? I’ll deny it. Anything else?”
However, soon after the briefing ended, McMackin returned to the reporters and apologized for using the “inappropriate” word.
Later McMackin followed up with a formal written statement.
“I sincerely apologize for the inappropriate words that I used,” he said in the statement. “My comments were out of character and I have no prejudices against anyone. I’m really upset with myself and I’m truly sorry for my remarks.”
Earlier today, The LGBT media watchers, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) called for members of the LGBT community to contact Hawaii’s Athletic Director about the incident.
In a press conference streamed live this evening by the Honolulu Advertiser, a tearful McMackin addressed reporters, players, assistant coaches and boosters late Friday after meeting with school officials for several hours.
“I just want to say I made a big mistake. I want to apologize to everyone and anyone that I offended with my remarks,” McMackin said. “I’m committed to do whatever I can to use this as a life lesson to learn from my mistake. When we make mistakes, we have to learn from it and make better people of ourselves.”
Then wiping away tears from his eyes, McMackin said he’s offended the gay and lesbian community and now he wants to work with them to use the incident as a “teachable moment for me and hopefully others.”
Part of McMackin’s salary reduction will go toward paying for a student intern at the LGBT center on Hawaii campus and for campus wide workshops and awareness training.
A statement from Hawaii’s Chancellor, Virginia Hinshaw, also said that McMackin will, “participate in activities directed at improving the environment of our community, to working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community on our campus.” That includes McMackin participating in a public service announcement that details the power of offensive language toward the LGBT community.
Before becoming the Hawaii head coach, McMackin spent three years with the San Francisco 49ers as associate head coach. McMackin also served as defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks and several college programs including Texas Tech, Miami, Navy, Utah and Idaho.
http://glaadblog.org/2009/07/31/media-reports-anti-gay-slur-issued-by-football-coach/
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well….seems remorseful. Glad he will participate in PSA’s about the harm done by hateful language.
But really, this is what came up as more problematic to me- how does a football coach at a higher education institution make a million a year?????? Absurd and unjust….too many brilliant professors and other educators struggle to make a decent living…why is football worth so much at a COLLEGE?
This is something that could possibly be grounds for termination in the workplace……..what makes this man so special? He is allowed to ‘volunteer’ for the next 30 days? Where is the suspension? In view of the outcomes, I feel automatic termination is the only route to take. How pitiful…..a salary in excess of $1,000,000 for a bigot? And companies contributing to keep the football program going? I will not support the UH with one penny of my money.
Homosexuals have to put up with this kind of talk all the time. No wonder we keep our sexual preferences to ourselves. Sometimes it comes down to a matter of life or death for us. When gay children hear this kind of talk it makes them feel less human, and less worthy. We need protections against this kind of behavior, so let’s do it for the kids. I was 7 years old when I knew I like boys, but that was a different time. Today, you hear kids as young as 5 using the word faggot and queer. I feel sorry for the kids as young as I was who are gay to have to listen to such language. I believe in free speech, but there comes a point where it can cripple a person too, so where do you draw the line? When that coach said that, I’m sure there were at least 2 or 3 homosexuals in his football team, so the hurt goes on. We really need to have some dialogue about sexual orientation in this country, if not, we will remain in the dark ages. We still have issues with race in this country, after all this time you think we would at leat be over that hurdle.