For Wildcats' McBride, coaching football remains a labor of love

OGDEN — A player jogs off the field and Ron McBride extends his hand to slap five. "How's it goin'? You OK?" he says.

Others pass his way and McBride mumbles a word of encouragement to each. "How you doin'? You all right, man? And you, bro, how are you?"

In politics they call it "working the room." In coaching they call it "team unity."

For his part, Mac is doing great. Since recovering from a heart attack in 2004, he's loving life. He has his team, his health and his plan to build a consistent winner. And he's back in Utah — his favorite place — beginning his second year as Weber State's football coach.

"First thing when you get out of bed, if you're not thinking about football and not excited, then you shouldn't coach any more," he says.

Every day of coaching is a good day for Mac. It's been that way for 40 years. His ball cap bears a trademark slogan he coined as an assistant coach at Arizona two nearly decades ago. It says MAFU, which stands for mental toughness, attitude, fanatical effort and unity.

"Doesn't matter the name of the place," he says. "You're on the grass and you've got your players. If you're not enthused about it, you shouldn't be a coach. If you're not excited about what you're doing, don't do it."

He sounds a bit like Kramer in "Seinfeld" when Jerry says, "So Kramer, what are you going to do?"

Says Kramer: "Do? Do? Hey, I'm doing what I do. You know I've always done what I do. I'm doing what I do, the way I've always done and the way I'll always do it."

Wednesday was the first day on the new practice field for the Wildcats. When Mac hit town, he told school officials he needed such a place. So he got it. Now he wants an indoor practice field.

"It'll get done," says McBride.

Later, he hopes plans for a gondola up the western slope of Mount Ogden take shape. Some have proposed a ski resort and restaurant overlooking the city and campus. McBride envisions wooing recruits by showing them the campus, then taking them on a scenic ride to the mountaintop for dinner.

But even without new practice fields and gondolas, Mac would be happy. Exactly why the sixtysomething coach is still going strong comes down to this: It's in his blood. He has a lovely home at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon and enough money to retire. But after coaching 13 years at Utah, he took a job as an assistant coach at Kentucky. It was there he suffered his heart attack.

"The way I knew how much I missed football was when I had my heart attack," says McBride. "I didn't go to practice for two weeks. It was a great feeling when I got to practice. You feel like your whole life is starting again."