Adversity has made SIU's Mac McLeran a better husband, father and football coach

CARBONDALE, Ill. — He only recently turned 30 years old, but SIU linebackers coach Mac McLeran has handled greater adversity in his life than most will ever face. As a child, he watched his father overcome alcoholism. As a college football player, he bounced back from a life-threatening neck injury, and as a parent, he dealt with the anguish of nearly losing his newborn son.

Known as one of the program’s most energetic, passionate and vocal coaches, McLeran doesn’t shy away from these topics, and explains how they have shaped his life as a husband, father and football coach.

StrongDawgs: It’s been nearly 10 years since you were lying on the field in Macomb, unable to move, but it was also the beginning of your life as a coach.

MM: So I fractured my C7 (vertebrae) in my neck in a game against Western Illinois as a redshirt sophomore. I got airlifted from Macomb to Iowa City, to the University of Iowa hospital there, ended up being paralyzed on the right side of my body for about two and a half weeks. The reality that you've known and the safety that you've known is gone. You're telling yourself, you're going to be fine, I'm going to be able to come back and play. And you get back to working out and it's not the same, and the doctor and the head coach and all the trainers say we're not going to give the clearance to play.

McLeran's playing career ended with a fractured neck vertebrae during a game at Western Illinois.

The most important thing to me was how my teammates viewed me as a player, as somebody they could count on on the field. Credit to Coach (Bob) Nielson for him to open the door and allow me to become a student assistant and stay around the team and to Coach (Bill) O'Boyle, who was my offensive line coach for that one year. My dad was a huge help for me from that standpoint, telling me this isn't going to be the end of the line. This is gonna be the start of the next chapter.

SD: How did you make the switch from being an offensive lineman to becoming a defensive coach?

MM: I felt good about my ability to understand the box and protections and run game, because that was my job is to make that identification. As a student assistant, you're just sitting in those meetings, listening. They were talking about safety run force and how we got to have the corner here. How do you teach run-fit spacing? What does it look like as you break it down into the parts — defensive line, linebacker, safety, corner? It grabbed me right away and I wanted to have the knowledge of both sides.

I can still remember the first time I pushed the button on the headset at South Dakota. We went to Bowling Green and my job was charting plays, but (defensive coordinator Tyler) Yelk told me if I see something, just let him know. When I hit that button, my heart was going a million miles an hour. I said, “I think it's power again.” Sure enough, it was, and it was just one of those moments, that excitement and rush, you kind of feel it come back. Nothing's going to be like putting the helmet on and breaking the huddle with your guys, but (coaching) is a different sort of flavor of that.

SD: How did your time working with D.J. Vokolek at Northern Iowa shape you as a coach?

MM: I think that’s really where I started to excel and take off. I can't say enough positive things about D.J. from what he's done for me in my life. It's the same thing with Coach O Boyle. Those guys invested time in me and they allowed me to learn through how they do things, allow me to ask questions and to just grow. Voke is a very OCD-ish type of cat. He’s extremely organized, his tips and reminders are handwritten. O’Boyle was an art major, so everything is perfectly drawn, everything's tight and organized. South Dakota was great, but in Northern Iowa, I really started to learn how to do the job.

Coach (Mark) Farley actually hired me as the tight ends coach at Northern Iowa. So now I'm working with Shawn Watson, who was the head coach here (at SIU) back in the day — a guy that had been at Texas, at Nebraska, at Louisville with Teddy Bridgewater, coached a lot of high profile guys. He has really high expectations of young coaches, and the thing I'm grateful for is how hard those guys were on me at times and teaching me what detail means. What is doing things right, versus getting a result? If the result’s right, but the process is wrong, that's not what we're looking for.

SD: You joined Coach (Jason) Petrino’s defensive staff at SIU as a GA in 2022, but it wasn’t long before you got the full-time gig.

MM: Coach Petrino was our defensive coordinator when I was at South Dakota. Jay was great. I lived in his basement for two months. Our linebackers coach, Spencer Brown, left at the end of June, and Coach Hill brought me in his office. He's like, “we're gonna go forward with you as the linebacker coach. I think you're ready to do it.” For Coach Hill to have that confidence in me and Coach Petrino to have that confidence, it means a lot to have people in your corner, and you don't want to let those guys down.

I can't be grateful enough for the people that have been in my life that have impacted me very positively, the majority of them are coaches. The relationship that now me and Pron (Lee Pronschinske) have, with him as the DC, and working for a guy like Coach Hill. This place is what it is because of the people.

SD: Talk about the energy and excitement the linebacker corps brings to the practice field.

MM: I think energy and juice are two things that translate through anything, but the process that those guys take to get there is more important. How do we attack workouts? How do we meet? What type of teammate are we? Those are the things that are really important.

SD: Tell me about the boxes of notepads in your office.

MM: Coach Pron has me on the iPad now, so I transitioned some of them to my iPad, but I have boxes under my desk of old notepads that might be a little waterlogged, but I can pull them out, and I know exactly where the pages are. There's two at the house in the garage. My whole life in college has been in the Missouri Valley, and my whole college coaching career has been in the Valley, and referencing back to things from different coordinators, different places, I go back to my notes and it's just like a rolodex of information. It's kind of like going into a time machine.

McLeran with wife, Sydney, and son, Brooks

SD: For you and your wife, Sydney, life changed in a major way about two years ago when Brooks was born.

MM: Syd was in labor for a long time, and Brooks ended up losing some blood flow to his brain. The clinical term for it is hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy at birth. In the NICU in Carbondale, he flatlined twice, which is why he was life-flighted to St. Louis. After you’ve nearly lost him twice, the scariest part was seeing the breathing tubes and hearing the sounds the machines make to keep him alive. I lost the illusion of what I thought being a dad was, but I sure didn't lose being a dad.

SD: He’s a frequent visitor to practice, but how is Brooks doing now?

MM: He has quadriplegic mixed-type cerebral palsy. He has 60 percent vision in his left eye and 40 percent vision in his right eye. Hearing is not affected. He has therapy three days a week with his fine motor skills. To see how the dude has worked and attacked those things as a year-and-a-half old, as his dad, you're just sitting there, like, wow.

The team that he has in St. Louis, the Children's Hospital, has been just amazing. My wife is a superhero, driving back and forth to St. Louis for “B” and how regimented and how she attacks it. The growth that he's had and how he's just a completely different person now is because of her. She's doing the majority of that by herself at times. She understands from my standpoint as a football coach how important the process that I have here is, and what I need to do to give these guys everything I can give them. To see her not only agree, but push on that, is amazing. I can't say enough about having a partner like Syd.

SD: Talk about the outpouring of support you received from your Saluki Football family.

MM: When you talk about Brooksie and that whole journey, that's the best example I have of what this place is, and the love and support this place offers. After he was life-lined to St. Louis, I walked out of the ICU to get in the car and go to St. Louis, there was Bennett Rolan (offensive coordinator Blake Rolan’s wife) and, you know, I’m a linebackers coach, I'm not an offensive coach. For her to be the first face you see as you walk out, that's what this place is, that's what this place attracts. ZG (Coach Zach Grant) drove all the way to St. Louis with me. When I walked downstairs at the hospital in St. Louis, Coach Voke was there. Coach Hill came that first day, and he just signed in as “uncle” so he could come upstairs and see me. Those guys came three, four times. Coach (Dan) Clark, Coach (Larry) Warner came down to St. Louis and took me to dinner. Alicia (Hill) sent food.

SD: Was it difficult to focus on football initially?

MM: I talked with Coach Hill a lot at the beginning, you know, how are you mentally, how are you doing with this? It was really good for me to be able to lean on guys like Coach Hill, Coach (Nathan) Frame and Z, and the guys in my (linebackers) room as well. I don't hide that information from them. Being there with my guys was and is really therapeutic for me. It helped clear my mind and be able to compartmentalize. I share my life with those guys. Any time “B’s” got a cool video, it goes in our position group chat and those guys love him. At practice, they come see him, and he smiles when they come over. I can't say enough how awesome it is to have “B” be a part of it.

SD: What are some pillars of support that Saluki Football offers not just you, but all of the coaches and players?

MM: The FCA that we have here was never my thing, but Coach Hill and Coach Grant, I give them a lot of credit. They said it might be helpful to just come, listen. I tried it and it’s been a really positive thing for me. It's been helpful to be able to try to get rid of some of that stuff you carry. It doesn't mean it's always easy, because it's not, but it’s really brought a level of clarity and focus in my life. So, again, another thing that this place, the people here have helped with.

SD: Your dad has also been a source of strength for you and has an inspirational story.

MM: My dad's been sober for almost 19 years now. I have the date tattooed on my wrist of when he entered a rehab facility when I was in sixth grade. A big thing in AA is one day at a time. If one day at a time's too long, 10 minutes at a time. If 10 minutes at a time is too long, it's a minute at a time. I use it daily in my life with “B.”  The ability to challenge yourself and overcome those things of living truly one day at a time and being present where your feet are, it's what I try to talk to my guys about. Whether it's good, whether it's bad, whether it's scary, whether it's hard, it’s about being here and accepting that this is life on life's terms.