Former Arizona Cardinals head coach and longtime Tennessee Titans assistant and broadcaster Dave McGinnis died on Monday at 74 years old.
The Titans announced his death, citing an illness that first hospitalized him in early March. The team did not provide further details of his death.
“My heart aches with the loss of Coach Mac, who was so much more than a coach and broadcaster — he was family,” Titans owner Amy Strunk said, via a statement. “Coach Mac gave so much of himself to this organization over the years, and his passion, loyalty and love for the Titans never wavered.”
McGinnis, known in NFL circles as “Coach Mac,” spent three decades in the NFL as an assistant or head coach for four different teams starting in 1986. He started his NFL coaching career as the linebackers coach in Chicago, where he coached Hall of Fame linebacker Mike Singletary.
“I found him to be a friend over the years, and what a great time, the timing of him coming to the Bears and being my coach,” Singletary said of McGinnis, per the Titans. “I needed somebody like him.
After 10 seasons with the Bears, McGinnis joined the Cardinals as defensive coordinator in 1996. McGinnis eventually served three-plus seasons as Arizona’s head coach from 2000-03, coaching players such as Pat Tilman and Anquan Boldin.
Dave McGinnis spent three decades coaching in the NFL and was beloved and respected across his stops.
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The Cardinals fired McGinnis after a 17-40 stint, and he joined the Titans for the next eight seasons as a linebackers and assistant head coach on Jeff Fisher’s staff.
“The lives he touched, and the number of people that cared about him, it’s amazing really,” Fisher said of McGinnis, per the Titans. “Mac treated people so well, and made everyone feel like they were important.
“Even in the hospital, people would stop by to see him, and he would ask about their families, their grandkids, even when he could barely speak. He made a big impact on so many people. Everyone loved Mac.”
McGinnis followed Fisher to the St. Louis Rams and finished his coaching career with the franchise from 2012-16. The Cardinals and Rams posted tributes to McGinnis upon the news of his death.
Shortly after he was done coaching, McGinnis returned to Nashville to join Titans Radio, where he work as the team’s color analyst on gameday broadcasts. He took the job with no broadcasting experience in 2017 and held it, calling Titans games through the 2025 season.
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McGinnis spent three years as a defensive back at TCU. He then coached at TCU, Missouri, Indiana State and Kansas State before joining the NFL with the Bears in 1986.
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