This Little Dance

Poor Greg McMackin, at least metaphorically. If only the University of Hawaii’s million-dollar football coach had insulted Christians, conservatives or the state of Israel, then, like the protagonists in Erich Segal’s Love Story, McMackin would never have to say, “I’m sorry.” Virginia Hinshaw, Chancellor of the Hawaii University system “suspended Hawaiian football head coach Greg McMackin for 30 days without pay after the second-year Warriors coach hurled a homophobic slur, the F-word, at rival Notre Dame during a media briefing—multiple times,” Daryl C. Hannah reported on Diversity, Inc..

Additionally, “McMackin will voluntarily take an additional 7 percent pay cut from his salary of $1.1 million this year,” Hannah revealed. What McMackin did, earlier this year, was to regale reporters at a press conference with his description of a Notre Dame pre-game ritual as “this little f—-t dance.”

Professors, as we frequently report, say much worse things about their students’ religious beliefs without suffering such consequences as McMackin faces. “I’m very disappointed in myself,” McMackin said. “I hope to make up for some for [sic] the pain I caused others.”

What are the odds that the Middle East Studies department at Columbia will ever say that to Israeli students on campus? Don’t start counting.

And unlike some of the boorish unapologetic profs we get to cover, McMackin has a
solid record of achievement. “What Greg McMackin accomplished in his first season as head coach at the University of Hawai‘i, few who were given that task before him can compare,” according to the team’s website. “In 2008, McMackin:

• “Led the Warriors to a bowl game (Sheraton Hawai‘i Bowl), becoming just the second UH coach to do so in his first season;

• “Guided the Warriors to a 7-6 regular season—the second-best win total by a first-year UH coach—against a schedule that included eventual BCS national champion Florida and Big East champion Cincinnati;

• “Posted the school’s first non-losing record following a Western Athletic Conference championship season;

• “Led UH to its first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent on the road at No. 22 Fresno State (32-29 in overtime)”; and

• “Directed the Warriors to a second-place finish in the WAC standings, the second-best finish for a first-year UH coach.”

“This is not the first time a Hawaii athletic figure issued an apology for using insensitive language,” Graham Watson reported on ESPN.com. “Former athletic director Hugh Yoshida said in 2000 that the reason the university switched from its longtime Rainbow logo was in part due to its connection as a symbol for gays and lesbians.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.