Brown: Mac McCausland Lifetime Hawkeye Hoops Booster

Former Player, Announcer Loved Iowa Basketball

Mac McCausland (left) and Kent McCausland

In my career as a sportswriter at the Des Moines Register, I once wrote that Mac McCausland had played basketball at Iowa under Coach Ralph Miller.

Mac corrected me the next time we crossed paths.

“Actually, I never played for Ralph,’ Mac said, eyes bright with a punch line on its way. “I sat for Ralph. I’m still removing splinters from the bench in Iowa Fieldhouse.”

Walter “Mac” McCausland was listed as a 6-foot guard from Maquoketa on the Hawkeyes’ freshman team in 1964-65. That’s as close as Mac got to playing for Ralph Miller. But McCausland, who passed away Saturday at the age of 75, never lost his connection with Iowa basketball.

He worked alongside Jim Zabel at WHO Radio and a statewide network for four years as an analyst. Work might be too strong a word. This was a labor of love.

He served the same duties for 14 seasons on Iowa’s television network. He and play-by-play man Larry Morgan were a perfect fit, and elevated the program to new heights of popularity. Today, mention “Chips and Salsa” to anyone who watched those games and they’ll respond with two words: Mac McCausland. When Iowa had a game locked away, Mac liked to say it was time to get out the chips and salsa.

Mac was a lifetime Hawkeye hoops booster, and I guarantee his favorite seasons were between 1995-96 and 1998-99. That’s when his son, Kent, played guard at Iowa for Coach Tom Davis. When Kent picked Iowa over offers from Northwestern, USC and Tennessee, I dusted off Mac’s line about the splinters he still carried from the bench at Iowa Fieldhouse. “Kent has far more talent than I ever did,” said Mac.

Kent, a standout guard at Waterloo West, backed up his dad’s words. One of the best shooters in program history, Kent lettered four years and led the nation in 3-point shooting in 1996-97 at 52.2 percent (70 for 134). That remains a single-season record at Iowa.

Mac’s full-time television duties ended heading into Kent’s senior season (1998-99). ESPN Regional, then the producer of Big Ten Conference telecasts, cut its budget and decided to use just one set of announcers on each game instead of two - one for each team. Mac was able to do Kent’s final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, a 65-48 victory over Northwestern on Feb. 23, 1989.

That was the 13th and final season for Davis as Iowa’s head coach. His team took him to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament that season. And Mac was there, every step of the way. Mac was an objective analyst, and very good at his job. But there was never any question which team he was pulling for.

Former Register columnist Marc Hansen and I used to kid Mac about that. We called him a houseman, a term that meant he had a strong allegiance to the black and gold. He considered that a badge of honor.

Kent was just a youngster when Mac brought him along to a road game one season. If my memory serves me correct, it was at Purdue. We were kicking things around before dinner the night before the game. Hansen and I decided we needed to give the son of houseman a nickname. The kid was too small to be a house. He was more like a studio apartment. From that day forward, Marc and I called Kent by a different name - Studio. I still do. And Mac loved it. We also kidded Mac, whenever we shared a dinner table, by asking if they had chips and salsa on the menu.

Mac did his homework as an analyst. He’d attend Iowa practices and scribble notes on a legal pad to prepare for the upcoming game. He also did the same thing on the road at practices the night before games. He wrote a column for “Voice of the Hawkeyes.” His passion for Hawkeye hoops was unmistakable. He often called it a blessed relationship.

Mac always loved to tell a good story. Like the time Iowa was playing Memphis in the final of the 1983 Winston Tire Classic in Los Angeles, Calif. One of McCausland’s duties was to see if the opposing coach would grant a post-game interview. Memphis Coach Dana Kirk said he’d do it. For $100. No thanks, Mac said.

And then the punch line. Three years later, former Memphis coach Kirk was charged by a federal grand jury with demanding payoffs for sending his team to tournaments. He was also charged with income tax evasion, obstruction of justice and mail fraud.

After Mac’s Iowa career had ended, prematurely, he still remained involved with the program. First, as a manager on the freshman team. Later, Miller let him stick around as an assistant freshman coach.

He kept his fingers in coaching at the AAU level, with players like his son, Raef LaFrentz, Ryan Bowen and Klay Edwards on his roster. By that time Mac was thriving in a five-decade insurance career in Waterloo. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a Business Administration degree in 1969.

Mac served on the National I-Club Board from 1975 to 1993, with a stint as president. In 1980, he was honored as the National I-Club Hawk of the Year. He was also presented the 1994 Iowa Letterwinners Club Distinguished Service Award.

And that Iowa letter, elusive as a player, finally came home. Mac was recognized as an Iowa Letterwinners Club Honorary Letterwinner in 2002.

I don’t know if Mac celebrated with chips and salsa. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.