One day after a local group threatened to protest Bill McCartney’s selection as the University of Colorado Homecoming parade’s grand marshal, the former CU football coach announced that he no longer will participate in tonight’s event.
According to a release from the CU Homecoming committee, McCartney — who led the Buffs to their only national title — told the CU Athletic Department earlier today that he did not want to detract from the Homecoming parade.
“Apparently there’s opposition, and I don’t want to create a controversy,” McCartney told the Camera. “I’m not interested in offending anybody. Homecoming is supposed to be a celebration, when you welcome back the alums. A guy like me shouldn’t be a distraction.
“The university has really been good to me while I was there, and I regret offending others who are opposed to some of the things I said.”
On Thursday, CU group Gender Justice Commission had called for a protest of McCartney’s selection as the parade’s grand marshal. McCartney has drawn criticism from some groups for comments he made in the past about women and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
“We’re pleased he has elected to not participate in the Homecoming parade as a grand marshal,” said Erika Munter, chairwoman of the Gender Justice Commission. “I think it helps foster a CU-Boulder campus that is supportive and inclusive to all different identities.”
Munter said the group will still be at the parade to show its support for the Buffs.
No replacement will be chosen, and the parade will continue at 7 tonight along the Pearl Street Mall without a grand marshal. McCartney initially was chosen by a 25-member Homecoming committee made up of CU students, staff and community members.
“It was an honor, but it would have become a dishonor if I distracted from the bigger picture,” McCartney said. “I don’t want to be a distraction. I understand. It’s still an honor that they asked me.”
McCartney coached the Buffs from 1982 to 1994, winning three consecutive Big Eight Conference titles. His 1990 team was crowned national champions by the Associated Press.
But McCartney courted controversy as a coach, something that brought out opposition from CU faculty members last year when he lobbied to replace Dan Hawkins at the helm of the Buffs.
From a CU podium in 1992, McCartney referred to homosexuality as “an abomination against almighty God” in support of Amendment 2, which prohibited laws protecting gays from discrimination.
Sports Illustrated ran an article in 1989 showing that from 1986 to 1989, two dozen CU football players were arrested on suspicion of charges including sexual assault.