Even before that McGinnis was on his way to becoming enormously popular across the NFL, where he ultimately accumulated three decades of coaching experience from 1986 to 2016 with the Chicago Bears, Arizona Cardinals, Tennessee Titans and the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, as a linebackers coach, defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, and also as a head coach.
In his career, McGinnis coached eight Hall of Famers, including linebacker Mike Singletary with the Bears. McGinnis loved telling stories about Walter Payton from his time in Chicago, and he later coached Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith and Aeneas Williams during his time as head coach of the Cardinals.
“Coach Mac, he was upbeat, and he was honest, and I always appreciated that,” said former Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck, who played six seasons under McGinnis. “He had a young Stephen Tulloch and he’d tell him: You can’t be playing rat ball. … He’d say that to all the young guys: ‘You see this right here, this is rat ball.’ He was not a yeller, and he did not try to make you look dumb in front of the guys. But he had his funny Texas way of telling you to get your shit together, and “This is unacceptable.” He wanted to make sure a game didn’t go down on his watch.”
Raised in Snyder, Texas, McGinnis graduated from Snyder High School. He played in college at Texas Christian University, where he was a three-year starter as a defensive back. When he crossed paths with another TCU alum, he was quick to curl his fingers down to represent the school’s mascot, the horned frogs.
McGinnis began his coaching career immediately after he finished his playing career, spending 13 years as a college assistant before moving to the NFL. Between 1973-85, McGinnis served on the coaching staffs at TCU, Missouri, Indiana State and Kansas State.
McGinnis embarked on his NFL career in 1986 with the Bears, where he spent 10 seasons on the staffs of Mike Ditka and Dave Wannstedt as linebackers coach. It was in Chicago where McGinnis coached Singletary, Wilber Marshall and Otis Wilson. Singletary was the captain of the defense, and he was named to seven straight Pro Bowls and was honored as Defensive Player of the Year in 1988 when he was coached my McGinnis.
“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. “I needed somebody like him. I knew where I wanted to go, knew what I wanted to do and I needed somebody to guide me, somebody to help me and have a perspective about what was next for me, and how to be a professional about getting there. For me, Coach Mac was a godsend at that time, when he came.
“I really leaned on him. He was honest with me, and he helped me so much go to the next level. He’d say: Mike, you may not want to hear this, but I have to tell you, partner: This is what you need to do, and you need to do a better job of doing this. He was a friend, a mentor, and he told you the truth. He loved helping players work through things. He was going to be a friend if you needed a friend, he knew when to get on your tail, and he knew when to back off. I was really very fortunate to have come across someone like him who could find that balance of being a coach, and a friend. I think he and I needed each other at the time we met.”
In 1996, McGinnis left Chicago to become Vince Tobin’s defensive coordinator in Arizona, and he spent nearly five seasons in that role before taking over as the Cardinals interim head coach in 2000. McGinnis remained Arizona’s head coach for three seasons, and ended up serving 57 games as a head coach.
In Arizona, McGinnis coached a player who made a profound impact on his life: Pat Tillman, who left his sports career and enlisted in the United States Army Special Operations in May 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Tillman died in Afghanistan in 2004 at the age of 27, and McGinnis often spoke about his courageous life, and his death.
“I’ve coached eight Hall of Famers, and no player I’ve ever coached had more of an impact on my life than Pat Tillman did,” McGinnis once said. “It was an immense loss, and it will always be there. But we are all better for having known him. His legacy will live forever.”
Following his coaching days with the Cardinals, Fisher brought McGinnis to Nashville, which would eventually become his final home base, but not before traveling to two more cities with Fisher.
After serving on Fisher’s staff as linebackers coach from 2004-2010 in Tennessee, and in 2011 under Mike Munchak with the Titans, McGinnis later served as an assistant head coach under Fisher with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams from 2012-2016.
When he returned to Nashville at the end of his coaching career, McGinnis joined Titans Radio, where his knowledge and passion for the game was regularly on full display while providing insight and analysis as color analyst while working alongside play-by-play men Mike Keith and Taylor Zarzour.
Keith spent eight seasons in the booth with McGinnis. Keith said he learned early on that McGinnis, who had built strong reputation as a football coach, was going to be a natural.
He’d already shown so many impressive traits when he joined the organization the first time, as a coach.
“When Gunther Cunningham left as linebacker coach, he was one of the most beloved people in the building. Amazingly, his successor, Dave McGinnis, surpassed him,” Keith said. “In his eight years on the staff, Coach Mac came to know everyone in the building. Everyone. When he left for the Rams after the 2011 season, he invited everyone to lunch at Rosepepper’s (in East Nashville). Everyone. And almost all stopped by to spend one more moment with Coach Mac.
“We called him to ask if he wanted to join our Titans Radio team in 2017. He had no broadcasting experience, but we were all convinced that he would be a huge hit. By the end of his first preseason, he was the star of the broadcast. We rebuilt what we did around him. We eventually created Titans Gameday on TV as one more vehicle for him. The world could not get enough Coach Mac. We rode his coattails, as we traveled coast to coast and to England (twice) where people had to get his autograph, a picture or just to visit with him. Dave McGinnis was the same as a coach and a broadcaster – one of the very best. Why? He was 100% genuine. What players and fellow coaches experienced was real. What listeners and viewers experienced was real. We hear a lot of people in this world claim to be “authentic”. Coach Mac wouldn’t say that about himself, because he didn’t have to say it. He was “Coach Mac” every minute, every hour, every day. He never disappointed. Ever. I learned so much from Dave McGinnis about kindness, about compassion, about loyalty and about being committed to a task. I loved all of his stories. I loved listening to him “talk ball”. I loved seeing him spend time with his fans. I loved watching famous NFL people – people that I idolized growing up – stop Coach Mac to say hello. I could live another 100 years and travel to every country in the world and not meet a person as original as David McGinnis. I loved him.”
Zarzour, who took over as the team’s play-by-play man, quickly developed a relationship with McGinnis on and off the field.
He credited McGinnis for welcoming him, and making him better.
“When I became the voice of the team, Mike Keith was so thoughtful with his advice and support,” Zarzour said. “The most important thing he told me was about the partnership I would have working with Coach. Mac immediately opened his arms to me, constantly checking in, and he became my teacher and sounding board.
“For the past year I have followed Coach Mac everywhere that he went, from the practice field to the very back of the last bus, to the broadcast booth. And I’ve learned about a lifelong love affair of football and his willingness to share it. He was the center of our Titans Radio family and we are heartbroken. I had so many more games I wanted to call with him, and I’ll always miss my friend.”
In addition to his work as color analyst for Titans, McGinnis also regularly appeared on Titans Radio’s flagship station, 104.5 the Zone (WGFX) in Nashville. He worked alongside Titans Radio’s Rhett Bryan during the Titans season for his own show, “Mac Talk”, and he regularly appeared on the Official Titans Podcast (OTP) and other programming alongside Amie Wells.
Bryan and Wells, along with the Titans Radio crew, spent countless hours with McGinnis, who was quick to mentor and share expertise about the game he loved so much. On the road, he often picked up the tab for expensive meals, but not until he’d learned the names and backgrounds of all the waiters and waitresses.
McGinnis had friends in cities across the NFL, and all over Nashville.
“There’s not enough words to say about Dave McGinnis,” said Bryan, Executive Producer for Titans Radio. “He’s a man that has had a massive impact on multiple NFL markets, and to every single person he comes in contact with. I call him the “Mayor of Everywhere” because he never met a stranger. His magnetic personality draws people to him that know his NFL pedigree and those who don’t.
“Coach Mac has given me an NFL education for free and the bond we made over the game of football will never be broken. What an incredible friend and mentor who makes you better by osmosis. In life and in my case, broadcasting. For the rest of my life, I’ll honor him and celebrate him. Like so many Titans fans, I mourn this tremendous loss. For the Titans organization he was an ambassador and for all of us he was our treasure. Think of him as the “football Dolly Parton”. Everyone loved Mac.”
Wells, sideline reporter for 13 seasons with the team, admired McGinnis for the life he lived aside from the game, and his friendship. McGinnis once surprised Wells when he bought a pair of battery powered cars for her two daughters.
Close friends of McGinnis say he didn’t have much furniture in his East Nashville home after giving his own furniture to a family that lost its possessions after storm damage from a tornado several years ago.
“Coach Mac is special for so many reasons, but what will stay with me forever isn’t his professional success,” Wells said. “It’s the way he showed up in the world every single day. He never met a stranger and somehow, in just a few moments, could make you feel seen and valued. His mind held more football knowledge than most could ever imagine, but what made him truly rare was how much space he made for people. He remembered the little things, the conversations, the details, the moments, and that’s what made every interaction with him feel meaningful. When people ask, “Who does Mac know?” the honest answer is everybody, and more importantly, everybody felt like they knew him.
“While so many will remember Dave McGinnis for his incredible career in the NFL, I’ll remember his heart. His patience, his willingness to teach, his quick wit, and the stories that could light up any room. There will never be another person like him, and I feel incredibly lucky, not just to have worked with him, but to have known him as a dear friend.”
McGinnis was a man of the people, and he loved to interact with fans.
When the Titans held a pep rally before the team’s playoff game at Kansas City during the 2017 season, McGinnis said to the crowd, “On a scale of 1-10, this is good shit”.
His unique football verbiage rolled off his tongue in conversation, or on the air.
Some examples of Coach Mac speak:
“He’s willing to throw his face in the briar patch.”
“Looks like a puppy in traffic.”
“He’s got that Motorcycle Lean.”
“He has a GPS to the Ball.”
“He’s High-Hipped” or “Oily Hipped.”
“As a coach, he had a million one-liners,” Singletary said with a smile. “He’d say something to you, and it may be later that night before bed before you figured it out. And you’d come back the next day and say, “I know what you meant now. He’d laugh.”
Nihill, like so many others, said McGinnis will be missed.
On the practice fields, on the radio airwaves, in the hallways at the NFL Combine, at his favorite restaurants in Nashville, and in life.
“Much more than his love for the game, I just so appreciated being around the man because he was always so positive, so optimistic, and he always left everybody feeling better about themselves,” Nihill said. “He’s been around my family, he’s been around our fans and our partners, and he just always made you feel like you were the most important person in the world.
“He had this unique gift of investing in people through his time and attention and conversations. He was 1 of 1.”
After living life to its fullest his entire life, McGinnis was slowed in the last month after being taken to the hospital.
He spent time in intensive care, and then in a regular room before moving to a rehabilitation room at the hospital, where he began physical therapy. But his health began to fail him, and he was moved back to intensive care, where he’d remain.
Former Titans trainer Don Moseley was among those who showed up for McGinnis every day over the past five weeks, and many others made his hospital room a part of their daily routine. Some just sat in his room, holding his hand.
One day last week, after Fisher and Titans special teams coach John Fassel had visited McGinnis in the hospital, the two coaches arranged for former Titans linebacker Tim Shaw to contact McGinnis.
Shaw, who is battling ALS, spoke to McGinnis through the voice-recreation device attached to his wheelchair.
“Tell coach that I am praying for him, and that I love him,” Shaw told McGinnis. “And tell him to keep fighting.”
McGinnis fought to the end. On Monday morning, he was given his last rites by a Catholic priest. He passed away on Monday afternoon with his family by his side.
Keith, like so many others, went by to see McGinnis in his final days.
He wanted to let him know just how much he meant to him.
It came as no surprise to Keith that their final conversation turned to football.
“As I was leaving his room, I asked him: “Who are we (the Titans) taking at #4 (in the NFL draft)?” Keith recalled. “As sick as he was, with an oxygen mask on, Coach Mac managed to answer with: “Whoever is left after No. 3!” Coach Mac was still Coach Mac until the end. We were all lucky enough to love him. Everyone.”
