For six years the mountains have been sealed off from the outside world by government

For six years, the mountains have been sealed off from the outside world by government forces, and the isolation has taken its toll. Yousif Kuwa made liberal use of his handkerchief as he moved among the people, wordlessly embracing his officers Even the pilot was moved. The message took, and, at Colorado, he had the Buffaloes finishing every practice in a prayer huddle. Players were suspended for living with a woman unless the player's mother called the coach with her permission. Bill claimed he treated Christians and non-Christians alike - he was just a "Christian who coaches".

Players used to say that tapes of his pep talks should be played before wars. But, along the way, McCartney seemed to attract as many critics as he did admirers. What rankled was his habit of mixing sport with religion.Bill had been "born again" while coaching in Michigan, the catalyst being an invitation from one of his own players to attend a meeting of Christian athletes. "He was great in the living-room, he was great with selling parents [on the University of Colorado]," says Wolf He was also a supremely effective motivator. The 1984 team's effort - a one win, 10-loss debacle - had some supporters calling for his dismissal. But the next year, the Buffaloes won seven and lost just four, and by the late Eighties they were one of the most talented teams in the nation.

After defeating the fearsome Notre Dame team in the Orange Bowl, a key fixture in the college football season, they were named joint national champions for 1990.McCartney won national fame, and extraordinary job security: in 1990, the university signed him to a 15-year contract with a basic salary of $140,000. In a profession that prizes salesmanship, he was a brilliant recruiter of high school athletes. He inherited a moribund football programme, and his first three teams had losing records. He first coached as an assistant at the University of Michigan, moving on to the head coaching job with Colorado's "Buffaloes" in 1982.

"I see myself as militant for the gospel." And he was certainly not your average football coach.McCartney, whose father was a former Marine and a strict Catholic, comes from Michigan and was a good enough player to win a football scholarship to the University of Missouri. "I'm just trying to explain that it's hard for us to talk on the same level because you don't have God's spirit."There's also no question that Promise Keepers is cast in McCartney's muscular, born-again Christian image. In person, his intensity and conviction are almost overwhelming He is a zealot and proud of it. "I have strong convictions about the gospel of Jesus Christ and I'm eager to share them," he says.