Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, left, talks with quarterbacks coach Gary Barnett as they attend a state championship game at Longmont High School on Dec. 8, 1990. Barnett would later become the Buffaloes’ offensive coordinator and head coach. (Cliff Grassmick/Daily Camera) In December of 1990, Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney and his quarterbacks coach, Gary Barnett, went to Longmont High School to watch a player they were recruiting. CU had wrapped up a 10-1-1 regular season, was ranked No. 1 in the country and was preparing to face Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1991, for the national title. Standing on the sidelines at Longmont High, McCartney turned to Barnett and said, “(Offensive coordinator Gerry DiNardo) is leaving and going to Vanderbilt. You’re going to be the coordinator for the national championship game.” “He tells me this on the field in Longmont,” Barnett recalled this week with a laugh. “I’m going, ‘Uh, ok.’” All of a sudden, Barnett, who had never coordinated an offense at the Division I level, was in charge before the biggest game in CU history. “You know what? He just turned it over to me,” Barnett said. “He didn’t interfere. I called 97% of that game. He chose to call some plays when he wanted some things done or he thought something was going to work, but all the preparation, all the practice schedules, all the game calls, everything, he just said, ‘It’s yours. Go do it.’” CU won that game, 10-9, to claim the only national title in program history. That and so many other memories filled Barnett’s heart after McCartney died on Jan. 10 at the age of 84 after a long battle with dementia. CU will hold a public celebration of Coach Mac’s life at 10 a.m. on Wednesday at the CU Events Center. It’ll be a time for many fans to celebrate a legend who was the greatest coach in Buffs history. Buff Nation will never forget the man who led CU to the greatest run of success in the program’s history, going 93-55-5 from 1982-94. Those who coached with him, or even against him, however, will never forget his impact as a leader. Related Articles College Sports | Ohio State wins 1st national title since 2014, outlasting Notre Dame 34-23 in CFP championship game College Sports | Renck vs. Keeler debate: Who wins a pro title next for Denver? Michael Malone, Jared Bednar or Sean Payton? College Sports | National championship game on tap as Notre Dame and Ohio State close a long, strange football season College Sports | Source: Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk top candidate to join CU Buffs coaching staff College Sports | Grading The Week: CSU Rams, Jay Norvell got welcome transfer portal mojo, raiding Ohio State, Baylor after rough start to January “That kind of confidence that he showed in me (before the national title game), it was life changing to me,” said Barnett, who worked under McCartney for eight years (1984-91) at CU before his own successful tenures as a head coach at Northwestern and CU. Prior to becoming CU’s head coach in 1982, McCartney was an assistant at Michigan for eight years. He had never led a college football program and the inexperience was evident early on, as he went 7-25-1 through his first three years, 1982-84. Barnett joined the staff as the running backs coach in 1984, when the Buffs went 1-10. “He didn’t do everything perfect,” Barnett said. “You learned as much from that as you do from all the stuff that everybody else glorifies and talks about.” Through the growing pains, McCartney, and his staff, became better. Looking back now, Barnett sees three different stages of McCartney’s 13 seasons with the Buffs. Stage one was the first three years, when McCartney was learning how to be a head coach. Stage two began in 1985 when McCartney and the Buffs ditched their traditional pro offense for a wishbone attack that completely changed the trajectory of the program. The third stage began when McCartney’s first grandson, Timothy Chase “TC” McCartney was born on April 24, 1989. TC was the son of Coach Mac’s daughter, Kristy, and the Buffs’ quarterback at the time, Sal Aunese. “From the time Timmy was born, I think he became as good a coach as there was in the country and I mean in all aspects; I don’t mean just football,” Barnett said. “His team, his staff, the way he did things, handled things, reacted to things within our confines … through that period of time, I think from 1989 on, Mac was just spectacular.” Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, center, talks with a player while offensive coordinator Gerry DiNardo, right, looks on during a practice in Boulder, Colo. DiNardo was an assistant with the Buffs from 1982-90. (CU Athletics) The circumstances surrounding TC’s birth were tough for Coach Mac, but how he handled it made a significant impact on everyone around him, Barnett said. “There’s no question that his life changed, and the great ones adapt,” Barnett said. “To me, that’s what he did. I can’t say for sure that he became more aware of everybody around him and everything and his impact on them, but that’s what it seemed like.” From 1989 to his retirement after the 1994 season, McCartney’s Buffs went 58-11-4 with six consecutive top-20 finishes. “His overall management from 1989 on was just a model,” Barnett said. Beyond the wins, McCartney developed coaches through good times and bad. Barnett was one of 12 CU assistants under Mac who became head coaches. That list doesn’t even include current CU athletic director Rick George, who was a young recruiting assistant and has gone on to great success; or TC, who has coached for more than a decade in the NFL and spent this season with the New England Patriots. CU’s success helped Barnett and others land head coaching jobs, but the tough times helped many of them succeed in those jobs. “We got to go through some really hard times,” Barnett said. “I learned a whole bunch in that process. Going through that prepared me for navigating my way through my own (tough times).” McCartney’s impact went beyond those on his staff, though. McCartney was dedicated to his faith in God, was a co-founder of “Promise Keepers” and active for years in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). CU defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt, right, talks to defensive end Derek McCartney during practice on Aug. 1, 2015, in Boulder, Colo. (Daily Camera file photo) Through FCA, McCartney met a young coach named Jim Leavitt. Although he never worked with McCartney, Leavitt, who later worked as CU’s defensive coordinator from 2015-16, considered Mac a close friend. “I met him there at the (FCA) conventions,” Leavitt said. “We just kept in touch, kept in touch quite a bit.” Leavitt was an assistant at Kansas State from 1990-95, coaching against McCartney’s Buffs. They were close enough that Mac offered Leavitt a job on CU’s staff after the 1991 season. K-State coach Bill Snyder didn’t want to lose Leavitt, though, and gave him a co-defensive coordinator title to stay with the Wildcats. Through the years, Leavitt and Mac remained close. Leavitt even coached another McCartney grandson, Derek, at CU. Leavitt recently received a text from Derek, thanking him for the impact he had on his life. But, it got Leavitt to thinking about how impactful Coach Mac was on so many others. “It just kind of hits,” Leavitt said of Mac’s passing, “because he had such an influence on so many people’s lives. He was a great coach. He was a hard on staff probably and worked them hard, but he wanted to win and he wanted to do it the right way.” Leavitt said he’ll always remember his relationship with Mac, including the many times he would visit Mac’s home during those two seasons he worked at CU. “On a personal level, I really felt close to him,” Leavitt said. “(It was) different with McCartney because of our love for the Lord. That’s where it was different from anybody else. I’d say because of that he probably was as close as anybody that I felt because of that reason.” Whether it was through his faith, his leadership or his ability to coach, McCartney had a way of impacting the men he worked with for so many years. “I was around Mac for eight years, but he was around me for 40,” Barnett said. Barnett admitted he probably appreciated McCartney more after he worked for him, but he always admired McCartney and wanted to make him proud. When McCartney retired from CU after the 1994 season, Barnett was the head coach at Northwestern and McCartney came out to practice to visit Barnett. “You just want to put on a show for Mac,” Barnett said. “We walked off the field and he says, ‘Man, I’ve never seen a team practice that hard.’ You’re looking for that from him, for his approval. … Those of us who had all come from Colorado, we all sort of felt that way and wanted that (approval). “He was hard on everybody all the time, and he was trying to make us all better.” Former Colorado head football coach Bill McCartney, center, with athletic director Rick George, left, and former Buffaloes receiver Lance Carl during a game at Michigan on Sept. 17, 2016, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (CU Athletics) Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.