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Hawaii’s $1 Million-Earning Football Coach Sorry For ‘Faggot Dance’ Commentary

Hawaii Warriors football coach Greg McMackin — the highest paid state employee, earning $1 million a year (!) — is very sorry for saying, while speaking at a media preview for the Western Athletic Conference, opponents at Notre Dame did “this little faggot dance.” He didn’t mean to be so offensive in front of the news media!

The comments came yesterday, and were quickly followed up with an in-person apology — and a plea with reporters not to relay his statements. Fat chance. The Idaho Statesmen, among others, pounced on him. As they should! Now, the question begs, how far will the reaction go? All the way to forcing him to resign? ‘Cause McMackin is meeting today with Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan, and we imagine “words” will be exchanged.

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McMackin used the term “faggot” three times while explaining why Notre Dame was so fired up to play Hawaii in the game, which the Fighting Irish won 49-21.

McMackin responded to the Notre Dame clapping tradition by having his players do the ha’a, an intense Polynesian dance and chant the Warriors do before games.

McMackin said Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis got up at the banquet and told the crowd, “We do something special at Notre Dame.”

“And they get up and they do this little cheer, like this,” McMackin said Thursday, doing a rhythmic clap. “You know, this little faggot dance.”

Once McMackin saw Notre Dame’s team demonstration, he gave his players the signal — the shaka — to do their ha’a.

That’s what inspired Notre Dame, the coach said.

“I screwed up. And I’ll never do this again,” he said of having his players do the dance. “… It was the best (ha’a) I’ve ever seen. I mean, they’re on their chairs, they have beads on, they’re ripping their beads off. I mean, it was a little scary. I think Notre Dame watched that and said, ‘We better have ourselves ready,’ because they really played a good game.”

McMackin made his comments in front of about a dozen reporters, most with voice recorders, and a WAC video camera. He then tried to convince reporters not to write about his comments.

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