Mac McWhorter
Hamilton Pierce "Mac" McWhorter (born June 17, 1950) is a former offensive line coach for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was the interim head coach for Georgia Tech's football team in 2001 [1] after George O'Leary resigned and only coached for one game, the 2001 Seattle Bowl against No. 11-ranked Stanford. Tech won, 24 to 14,[2] technically giving McWhorter the highest win percentage of any Georgia Tech football coach.[1]
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 17, 1950 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Playing career | |
| 1971–1974 | Georgia |
| Position(s) | Guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1974 | Duluth HS (GA) (assistant) |
| 1975–1978 | Douglas CountyHS (GA) (assistant) |
| 1979 | Villa Rica HS (GA) |
| 1980–1984 | Georgia Tech (assistant) |
| 1985–1986 | Georgia (assistant) |
| 1987–1988 | Alabama (assistant) |
| 1989 | West Georgia |
| 1990 | Duke (OL) |
| 1991–1995 | Georgia (OL/TE/ST) |
| 1996–1998 | Clemson (OT/TE) |
| 1999 | Memphis (OC) |
| 2000–2001 | Georgia Tech (OL) |
| 2002–2010 | Texas (OL) |
| 2012–2013 | Penn State (OL) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 5–7 |
| Bowls | 1–0 |
McWhorter was an All-SEC guard at Georgia in 1973. McWhorter retired following the 2010 season with the Longhorns.[3] The American Football Coaches of America voted Longhorn offensive line coach Mac McWhorter the top assistant coach in the country for 2008.[4]
After spending 2011 out of football following his retirement at Texas, Penn State's new football coach Bill O'Brien convinced McWhorter to join the staff at Penn State, following the death of Joe Paterno. McWhorter, who one sportswriter described as O'Brien's "biggest get" onto the coaching staff at Penn State, despite his enjoyment of retirement and attending football games as a fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, agreed, and moved to the northeast for the first time in his life. His tenure at Penn State was not expected to last particularly long for a variety of reasons including parents in worsening health and grandchildren, but while at Penn State, he was beloved among his players, including offensive guard Miles Dieffenbach, who commented,
"We love him a lot ... He loves to have a good time. He's a funny guy. I don't know how old he is, but he's out there like he's 25 years old."[5]
McWhorter noted that he loved coaching at Penn State, but had no timetable for how long he would coach. McWhorter retired following the 2013 season once again after not being retained by James Franklin.[5]
McWhorter, October 20, 2013[5]
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| West Georgia Braves (Gulf South Conference) (1989) | |||||||||
| 1989 | West Georgia | 4–7 | 3–5 | T–6th | |||||
| West Georgia: | 4–7 | 3–5 | |||||||
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2001) | |||||||||
| 2001 | Georgia Tech | 1–0[n 1] | 0–0 | W Seattle Bowl | 24 | ||||
| Georgia Tech: | 1–0 | 0–0 | |||||||
| Total: | 5–7 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Notes
- McWhorter served as interim head coach for the Seattle Bowl after the resignation of George O'Leary following the conclusion of the regular season.
References
- Georgia Tech Football History Database
- 2001-2002 Bowl Games
- Riggs, Randy (December 7, 2010). "Greg Davis, Mike Tolleson, Mac McWhorter exit as UT coaches". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
- Mac McWhorter on Texasfootball.com
- Gross, Mike (October 20, 2013). "Offensive line coach McWhorter is O'Brien's biggest ' get' at Penn State". Lancaster Newspapers. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.