So too did Kuwa's attempts to alert the international community to the destruction of the Nuba peoples

So too did Kuwa's attempts to alert the international community to the destruction of the Nuba peoples. He has given us hope," an old man said as soldiers and civilians danced to an accompaniment of whistles, horns and drums and* women stamped their feet and sang: "Come, young men: push forward into the heart of the enemy!" It was almost two years to the day since Kuwa had left the mountains, on foot, to attend peace talks in Nigeria between the Sudan People's Liberation Army and the Sudanese government The talks failed. But these poor people were elated beyond measure that day in May, a day most of them had thought would never come "We thank God for keeping Commander Kuwa safe. The American Civil Liberties Union, however, protested that he was trying to impose his beliefs on his team.With his high public profile and strict moral views, McCartney soon became a flag-waver for conservative causes. In 1989, for example, he attended an anti-abortion rally, proclaiming that "Satan has unleashed his fury against the unborn." But most controversial of all was the stand he took on homosexuality in 1992, when he endorsed an anti-gay rights constitutional amendment being voted on in Colorado.

Homosexuality, he told a campus news conference, was "an abomination of Almighty God".In the tumult that followed, Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, a Democrat from Denver, called McCartney a "self-anointed ayatollah", and the University reprimanded him for appearing to use his position at a state-funded institution to promote his personal beliefs. McCartney was unrepentant: "I didn't do any more than quote Scripture," he said.The coach also ran into accusations of hypocrisy. For one thing, many of his players were not exactly living the Christian ideal. From 1986 to 1988, two dozen of them were charged with, or convicted of, crimes ranging from disorderly conduct and brawling to rape. Were his moral standards not quite so tough after all? And he wasn't always sensitivity incarnate. After two players were accused of date rape, he said that rape was "an act whereby there's real physical violence involved.

And so I don't think that's what we're talking about here."There were also problems at home. In 1989 and 1993, his daughter Kristy - one of four children he and his wife Lyndi have had - presented him with two grandchildren. Unfortunately, both were born out of wedlock, and their fathers were both players on his team.All the scandal and controversy led some to say that McCartney had turned into an embarrassment for the university. But he had his long-term contract, and he kept delivering the most important thing: victories on the football field. As the 1994-95 season began, all the signs were that the coach would remain at Colorado for many years to come.Then came the shock. In November 1994, McCartney announced that in January, at the end of the season, he would resign, just walk away from his contract with 10 years still left on it On campus, they could hardly believe it.

"People were pretty taken aback," recalls Dr Karen Raforth, a psychologist at the university.The coach's explanation is quite simple. He wanted to spend more time with his wife; he had, he says, been neglecting her. "In our marriage, I discovered that my wife wasn't being brought to splendour," he tells me "She wasn't all the things that God birthed in her. The gifts that she had, many of them were suppressed as a result of me chasing my dreams."And he wanted to devote himself to Promise Keepers, to help other men in their marriages The "Christian who coaches" would be coaching for Christ. "Because God gave me the vision initially, I felt called to continue to be available to serve the movement any way that I can."THE VISION came to McCartney on Interstate 25 in March 1990, the annus mirabilis in which his Buffaloes won the national championship. He and his friend, Dave Wardell, the Colorado Chairman of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, were on a long drive to southern Colorado.