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DEL.ICIO.USToday’s Final Four memory
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To fully appreciate the completion of that miracle on March 28, 1977, inside the Omni, you have to consider the days, years and decades afterward.
March Madness in Atlanta:
One thing McGuire didn’t do: He didn’t coach again.
This was a Hall of Fame guy who won 80 percent of the time during his 13 seasons at Marquette. There was an NIT title. There also were a slew of other loaded teams, but there was just one Final Four championship resulting from the completion of that miracle. And, remember: When McGuire departed the Omni back then for his last game as a coach anywhere, he was only 48 years young.
All of that is why it was even more significant than we thought to see McGuire crying at the end of the Marquette bench on that rainy night in Georgia.
Yes, McGuire announced his retirement plans down the stretch of that season, but few believed him. Then one of his weaker teams kept winning before surviving mighty North Carolina in the title game to make McGuire an emotional wreck.
Looks like the sobbing icon knew what the rest of us didn’t: That he truly wasn’t coming back.
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By J T Masaryk
March 30, 2007 7:33 PM | Link to this
In point of fact, McGuire announced his retirement in December of 1976. North Carolina or any other team never made Al McGuire an emotional wreck. He was completely fearless, and would say anything to anybody.
This mindset lead to his undoing when he received technicals in the 1974 championship game, and the 1976 regional thriller against undefeated Indiana.
Coach Al McGuire lived his life by intuition. He sensed he did not have an edge in recruiting anymore. The advent of the Big East conference would come soon. Blacks had begun playing in the South. The players had more autonomy. McGuire had less control. As Coach McGuire said, “The recruits remain 18 years old. I keep getting older.”
Al McGuire had spent his entire life as a street fighter: at Rockaway Beach, St. John’s, the NBA, Belmont Abbey and at Marquette. But he was smart enough to know that his way of coaching had taken a toll on him, and that he wanted a different lifestyle, a different consciousness.
McGuire attributed his team’s championship play to his punching of a player at halftime of a 1977 tournament game against Cincinnati. But he did not want any more fights.
So when he cried on the bench, it was a catharsis, as well as tears of joy. He was remembering the “CYOs, the PALs, all the joints where I played basketball, the fighting, the wildness of it.”
Coach McGuire was glad it was over. And he was grateful that he finally made it to the summit, and appreciated going out on top.