Bill McCartney

In 2016, McCartney's family announced he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. He lives with his daughter Kristy.

In 2012, McCartney publicly criticized Colorado's firing of head coach Jon Embree as racially motivated.

In September 2008, McCartney came out of a five-years retirement from Promise Keepers to become the CEO and chairman of the board of the organization after founding the Road to Jerusalem ministry. McCartney was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2013.

McCartney has been honored with a number of additional personal awards including: the Impact America Award from Point Loma College in 1995, the Spectrum Award from Sports Spectrum magazine in 1995, ABC News Person of the Week on February 16, 1996, Layperson of the Year from the National Association of Evangelicals in 1996, the Fire-Setters Award from Revival Fires Ministries in 1997, the Evangelist Philip Award from the National Association of United Methodist Evangelists in 1999, and the Humanitarian of the Year from the Syl Morgan Smith Colorado Gospel Music Academy in 1999.

In 1995, there was widespread media speculation that McCartney might un-retire to serve as the head coach at Michigan following the resignation of Gary Moeller. McCartney, a former Wolverines assistant coach under Bo Schembechler, held a news conference to remove his name from consideration, stating that he wanted to devote his time to Promise Keepers.

Just before the 1993 Fiesta Bowl, McCartney confessed to his wife that he had committed adultery 20 years ago. Lyndi later suffered from severe bulimia and contemplated suicide, which prompted McCartney to retire from coaching in 1994. Lyndi died of emphysema in 2013.

The following year, the Buffaloes tied Nebraska for the Big Eight title and lost to Alabama in the Blockbuster Bowl. In 1992, Colorado finished a 9–2–1 campaign with a loss to Syracuse in the Fiesta Bowl. In 1994, McCartney's final year, he coached the Buffaloes to a victory at Michigan, where McCartney had spent eight years as an assistant. Colorado won the game 27–26 on a 64-yard Hail Mary pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook as time expired, which has since become known as The Miracle at Michigan. The Buffaloes posted an 11–1 record in 1994, capped by a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. At the end of the 1994 season, McCartney retired from coaching at the age of 54.

After the 1988 season, the Buffaloes' star quarterback Sal Aunese was diagnosed with stomach cancer. He died in the middle of the 1989 season. Nonetheless, Colorado won all 11 of its regular season games including victories over ranked Washington, Illinois, Nebraska, and Oklahoma teams. The Buffaloes faced Notre Dame on January 1, 1990 in the Orange Bowl, where they lost 21–6.

McCartney won a number of national coaching awards in 1989, including the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award, the Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award. Three times, in 1985, 1989, and 1990, he was named the Big Eight Coach of the Year. McCartney was inducted into the Orange Bowl Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

After eight years as an assistant at Michigan, McCartney was hired to replace Chuck Fairbanks as head coach at the University of Colorado on June 9, 1982. In his first season in 1982, the Colorado Buffaloes compiled a record of 2–8–1. After improving to 4–7 in 1983, Colorado sustained a 1–10 campaign in 1984, but McCartney was given a contract extension nonetheless. In his fourth season in 1985, McCartney guided the Buffaloes to a 7–5 record and a berth in the Freedom Bowl, where they lost to the Washington Huskies. In the following season, 1986, McCartney's team earned its first victory over Big Eight Conference powerhouse Nebraska since 1967. After modestly successful seasons in 1987 and 1988, McCartney steered his team toward national prominence.

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts in education from the University of Missouri in 1962, where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, McCartney was named as an assistant football coach under his older brother, Tom, in the summer of 1965 at Holy Redeemer High School in Detroit, Michigan. The younger McCartney was also the head basketball coach at Redeemer from 1965 to 1969, taking the school to the Detroit City Championship during the 1968–69 season. McCartney then served as the head football and basketball coach at Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan before becoming the only high school coach ever hired by University of Michigan coaching legend Bo Schembechler.

William Paul McCartney (born August 22, 1940) is a former American football player and coach and the founder of the Promise Keepers men's ministry. He was the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1982 to 1994, where he compiled a record of 93–55–5 and won three consecutive Big Eight Conference titles between 1989 and 1991. McCartney's 1990 team was crowned as national champions by the Associated Press, splitting the title with the Georgia Tech team that topped the final Coaches' Poll rankings.