NASHVILLE – NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah led off his NFL Draft conference call on Tuesday with some words about the late Dave McGinnis.
"I am really excited for the draft, and really excited to chat about it today, but I wanted to start off real quick and send my condolences to Dave McGinnis' family," Jeremiah told reporters at the start of the call. "He was just a great dude. He was a football guy, a lifelong coach. I do the Chargers games, and I'd run into him all the time in the press box and always looked forward to those conversations. I know it's sad news, and there are heavy hearts there around him and his family.
"I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed my conversations and visits with Coach Mac over the years and wish the best to his family."
McGinnis died on Monday in Nashville after an illness that first hospitalized him on March 4. He was 74.
McGinnis spent a lot of his life in Nashville with the Titans, first as a coach and later as a broadcaster.
McGinnis, analyst for Titans Radio for the past nine seasons, 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.
Jeremiah remembers McGinnis like a lot of folks, for his positive approach and the impact he made on the lives of those around him.
"I talked to him at the combine every year, and obviously when the Chargers played the Titans you go up in the press box and he would kind of hold court in there," Jeremiah recalled. "He never sat by himself. He always had people around him because he was such a fun-loving, gregarious guy. And so, I had a lot of fun talking to him because one of my closest friends is (Eagles defensive line coach) Jeremiah Washburn, and his dad, Jim Washburn, and coach Mac were close, having worked together (in Tennessee). We always had some fun telling Jim Washburn stories, and Titans stories.
"He had an enthusiasm for football, he had an enthusiasm for life, and man I was really bummed when I saw that news because he was such a good dude."
