Des Moines Register
11-26-06
Roses and Thistles: It's the record off the field that counts, Mac
COMPILED BY THE REGISTER'S EDITORIAL STAFF
A rose to Dan McCarney, the now-former ISU head football coach, who
certainly is a lot more charitable than many of his armchair-quarterback critics.
As his 12-year career drew to a close, stories of Mac's personal generosity
began to emerge, stories of how he dug deeply into his own pocket to help build
a home for a family in desperate need, of how he reached out to a student who
experienced a death in the family and of how he rounded up athletes to make
hospital visits the day before home games. McCarney built a passable win-loss
record given the conference competition (and the statistical impossibility of every
coach having winning seasons), but he leaves behind something more important:
the legacy of a class actor.