Dave Reardon: McMackin did his best work at UH as a top DC

Feb. 15—These days, you hear a lot about a concept called "complementary football."

These days, you hear a lot about a concept called "complementary football."

The general idea is actually nothing new—offense, defense and special teams working together to win games. It's an updated version of playing the clock management and field-position game.

But, it's often a lopsided deal now, what with more and more head coaches deciding not to punt when they are farther and farther away from first-down markers. Four-down territory has become anywhere you want it to be.

There's even a high school coach who did the math, and according to his numbers it doesn't make sense to punt—ever.

As the University of Hawaii defensive coordinator, Greg McMackin, who died Tuesday at age 77, didn't have to deal with quite that extreme.

But, as the coach responsible for the other side of the equation of a team featuring a wide-open offensive scheme like the run-and-shoot, it seemed pretty close to it at times.

You could call that complimentary football. As in : "Hey, congratulations, offense, for scoring a touchdown in less than one minute again. Now let's see if we've caught enough breath so that we can go out there and force a turnover so you can do it again."

McMackin was UH's head coach from 2008 to 2011. He was in charge the last time the Warriors won a conference championship, in 2010.

But the most positive part of his legacy with the Warriors is as the defensive coordinator in two of the greatest seasons in program history.

Without McMackin's defense in 1999 there is no greatest turnaround in college football history. Without McMackin's defense in 2007 there is no undefeated regular season and once-in-a-lifetime Sugar Bowl berth.

I wasn't here in'99. But all you have to do is look at the game-by-game scores to see that the defense did much of the heavy lifting for the nine victories, especially in the early part of the season while the newly installed run-and-shoot gained its footing.

I did see every game up close in'07. The offense got the headlines, but the defense made the deadlines ... McMackin's unit was at its best late in close games and overtime.

It happened throughout the season, from the second game, at LaTech, when cornerback Gerard Lewis knocked down a 2-point conversion pass to win in OT, to Ryan Mouton's interception in the end zone against Washington in the closing seconds of the finale at Aloha Stadium.

In between, Adam Leonard recovered the Spartans' first fumble of the season late in the fourth quarter with UH trailing, and Myron Newberry intercepted a pass in OT at San Jose State.

And then against nationally ranked Boise State, McMackin punctuated an impassioned pregame speech with a tape of Mel Kiper saying Hawaii was only unbeaten because of a "cupcake " schedule (another time the usually mild-mannered McMackin let his charges know what he thought about internet trolls by destroying a laptop ). The Warriors defense responded with big stops after turnovers against the previous season's midmajor darlings, forcing the Broncos to settle for field goals while a 39-27 victory was still in doubt.

By traditional but outdated measuring sticks—like yards and points allowed per game—the Hawaii defense was nothing special. But every time the undefeated regular season was on the line, it came up huge.

We saw something similar in 2010 in McMackin's third year as head coach. Linebacker Corey Paredes took a perfect angle to catch speedy Colin Kaepernick at the goal line and knocked the ball out of his hand for a fumble. It was the key to UH's victory over previously unbeaten Nevada, and the Warriors' 10-4 season.

At first, it was nice to see the career assistant get a chance to lead a program late in his career. But McMackin made mistakes as a head coach that gave me and much more important critics—the kind who make decisions—reason to question if he should remain at that post.

He was forced out after four losses in the last five games of a 6-7 season.

Regardless of that, there is no questioning Greg McMackin's crucial impact on two of UH football's greatest seasons.