John McKay (American football)

After the war, he entered college at Purdue University in 1946 at the age of 23, then transferred to the University of Oregon in 1947. He played football at both schools. At Purdue, he was a halfback, alongside Bob DeMoss and Ed Cody. He split time with Ed Ehlers. His head coach was former NFL Champion Quarterback Cecil Isbell. At Oregon, he was a halfback for the Ducks, alongside quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.[1] The Ducks went 9–1 in the regular season in 1948, and were 7–0 in the Pacific Coast, co-champions with California. Because the two teams did not meet during the season, the bid to the Rose Bowl was decided by the university presidents, which went to Cal on a split vote that was not disclosed.[2][3] Breaking with tradition, the PCC allowed the co-champions to also play in a bowl game. The Ducks accepted an invitation to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, but were defeated 21–13 by hometown SMU.[4][5][6]

Van Brocklin graduated and was selected in the 1949 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams; McKay took over the Duck offense in 1949 and called the audibles from his two-point stance as a running back. Without the future hall of famer, the Ducks slipped to 4–6 (2–5 in the PCC). Without McKay on the field in 1950, Oregon was 1–9 and winless in conference, including shutouts by UCLA and lowly Idaho. The Ducks scored only 97 points all season and were kept under ten points in half of their games.[7]

After graduation from Oregon in 1950, McKay decided to become a coach. He was an assistant for the Ducks for nine seasons, one under Jim Aiken and eight with Len Casanova, who arrived from the University of Pittsburgh in 1951. Improving through the 1950s, the Ducks tied for the conference title in 1957 and played in the 1958 Rose Bowl. Following the 1958 season, McKay moved south to USC as an assistant under third-year head coach Don Clark. A notable member of the USC staff at this time was Al Davis, the offensive line coach. The Trojans were coming off two losing seasons, 1–9 in 1957 and 4–5–1 in 1958. They won their first eight games in 1959 but lost to rivals UCLA and Notre Dame to conclude the season. After failing to defeat either of the two rivals in three years, Clark resigned. McKay was hired as the Trojans' head coach for the 1960 season.

In his first two seasons as head coach, McKay's teams enjoyed little success, going 4–6 in 1960 and 4–5–1 in 1961. The Trojans had been on probation and had difficulty recruiting; McKay stated that these two teams were the slowest he had ever been around. Heading into the 1962 season, McKay felt he might be fired by university president Norman Topping; alumni were pressuring Topping to fire McKay, but Topping resisted and gave McKay one more year so he could field a team with players he had recruited. Topping believed that McKay had recruited well and that the team would be successful.[8] Topping proved to be correct. In 1962, McKay guided USC to an 11–0 record, including a 42–37 Rose Bowl victory over #2-ranked Wisconsin, leading to a national championship. USC won a total of four national championships (1962, 1967, 1972, and 1974) during McKay's tenure as head coach, and the 1972 squad is regarded as one of the best teams in college football history.[9] That team went 12–0, defeating five teams ranked 18th or higher by an average of 22 points. They never trailed in the second half of any game, and their closest game was a nine-point win over Stanford. Players from that team included Mike Rae, Pat Haden, Sam Cunningham, Anthony Davis, Lynn Swann, Charle Young, Gary Jeter, Richard Wood and Charles Phillips. Two of his players, Mike Garrett (1965) and O. J. Simpson (1968), won the Heisman Trophy. McKay popularized the I formation and emphasized a power running game with such plays as "Student Body Left" and "Student Body Right." Through 2021, he remains the winningest head football coach in school history.

On November 26, 1966, Notre Dame crushed USC 51–0 for the worst defeat in the program's history. Reportedly, after the game, McKay vowed never to lose a game to the Fighting Irish again. He denied saying it, however, and in an interview shortly before his death, he clarified that he actually said, "They'll never beat us 51–0 again."[10] After that loss, McKay was 6–1–2 vs. Notre Dame, losing only during the Irish' national championship season of 1973. He even admitted that while growing up, being an Irish Catholic, he was a Notre Dame fan.

After turning down several offers from NFL teams, including the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, McKay was lured to Tampa Bay in 1976 to become the Bucs' first head coach.[11] Motivating his decision was the combined fivefold salary increase (totaling $2 million) and the prospect of building a franchise from the ground up.[11] The Buccaneers lost all 14 games in 1976 and the first 12 games of 1977 before finally winning against the New Orleans Saints. The Bucs would also win the last game of the 1977 season over the St. Louis Cardinals for a two-game winning streak.

After winning five games in 1978, the Buccaneers doubled that the following year, posting their first winning season. They clinched the 1979 NFC Central title in the final week by beating the Kansas City Chiefs 3–0 in a driving Tampa rainstorm. They then defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24–17 in a divisional playoff game to advance to the NFC Championship where, in a defensive battle, they lost to the Los Angeles Rams 9–0. The Buccaneers made two more playoff appearances in 1981 and 1982.

After the 1982 season, McKay strongly supported star quarterback Doug Williams' bid for a better contract; at the time he was making less than 12 backups in the league. However, owner Hugh Culverhouse was unwilling to budge from his initial offer. Williams bolted to the USFL for the 1983 season. Without Williams, McKay's offense appeared to be completely rudderless. The Buccaneers suffered through a two-win season in 1983, and although they rebounded to win six in 1984, it would be McKay's last. Thoroughly disillusioned, he stepped down as head coach. In the end, despite the Bucs' brief success in the early 1980s, McKay forever regretted his decision to leave the Trojans. His son noted that he knew "within the first week after he got to Tampa that he'd made a mistake."[11] McKay later said that, despite the team's rapid ascent to the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Area fans never forgave him for the franchise's 0–26 start.[12] McKay's record with the Buccaneers (his entire NFL career) was a dismal 44–88–1. Despite this, McKay was posthumously inducted into Tampa Bay's "Ring of Honor" on December 5, 2010.[13]

As an NFL coach, McKay proved to be a controversial figure. He had an unpredictable personality and was capable of great warmth, but also of scathing sarcasm. Veterans felt that his aloofness hampered his ability to communicate with the team.[14] Near the end of his tenure of head coach, he upset players by not addressing the team at any point before or after the game.[15] He was prone to emotional outbursts, as when he called fans "idiots" for booing Bucs' quarterback Steve Spurrier during the expansion season, and then again later when he applied the term to reporters and opposing players who criticized the team.[16] A 1977 wave of offseason firings saw several executives replaced by men with close ties to McKay, and left the suspicion that he was attempting to surround himself with a staff that would bow easily to his will.[17] Similar accusations were made surrounding his handling of personnel, particularly following the 1976 season and again in the wake of a 1982 trade that sent several players to the San Diego Chargers, alleging that his intolerance of outspoken players was causing him to cut players who could help the team.[18] Some players resented McKay for placing his son Johnny in the starting lineup when they felt that there were better receivers on the team,[19] a move for which McKay humorously gave "nepotism" as the motivation.[20]

Critics frequently questioned whether McKay's biting comments were detrimental to players, some of which described his conduct as "unprofessional".[21] McKay was noted for using the press to criticize players,[22] as when he complained about a young running back's pass-catching ability by sarcastically referring to him as "fabulous".[23] He responded to the ensuing controversy by repeatedly stating, "all of the players played lovely" at the following week's postgame press conference, despite the game having been a loss that eliminated the team from playoff contention.[24] Conversely, McKay could be fiercely protective of his players. He took the media to task for publishing subtly racist descriptions of Doug Williams that insinuated that his mental capacity was inferior, and continually referred to him as a "black quarterback" instead of "a quarterback".[25] A public apology was required after he leveled a string of expletives against a group of fans who had directed racist comments at his players.[26] Despite his adversarial personal relationship with Spurrier, McKay defended him against fans' criticism.[27] He enraged the New York Jets and incurred a large league fine in his final game, in which his attempt to secure an NFL yardage record for running back James Wilder Sr. went to such extremes as to order the defense to lie down and allow the Jets to score a touchdown, in order to quickly regain possession of the ball.[28]

At 44 games under .500 McKay set the record for futility surpassing Bert Bell in 1983, a record he held until Marion Campbell passed him in 1988.[29]

• Perry, Jim. "In Memoriam: A Life of Legend". USC Trojan Family Magazine - Autumn 2001. Archived from the original on November 25, 2005. Retrieved September 28, 2005.