McNair played professionally in the National Football League for the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Oilers. During his career he filled a variety of roles, including acting as lead blocker, special teams, and third-down back. By the end of his career, he ran for 803 yards with 3 touchdowns, caught 252 passes with 7 touchdowns and averaged 18.6 yards on kickoff returns, retiring as the Chiefs' 10th all-time receiver.
Coaching career
McNair retired from professional football in 1996 and began coaching at Camden High School in Camden, New Jersey. McNair was the running backs coach for the Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2003, and joined USC Trojans from 2004 to 2009. In his first season, he served as Running Backs Coach, and took on the additional position of Special Teams Coordinator in 2005. McNair was considered one of the most effective recruiters in college football. He was named one of the nation's top-25 recruiters by Rivals.com. McNair's contract at USC expired June 30, 2010 and was not renewed after 6 years. He played a key part in the NCAA's investigation of the school's athletic department dealing with former Trojans running back Reggie Bush. The 2004 and 2005 USC Trojans football teams have had wins vacated and a BCS National Championship stripped following NCAA rulings that running back Reggie Bush was ineligible due to improper benefits. These sanctions have been criticized by some NCAA football writers, including ESPN's Ted Miller, who wrote, "It's become an accepted fact among informed college football observers that the NCAA sanctions against USC were a travesty of justice, and the NCAA's refusal to revisit that travesty are a massive act of cowardice on the part of the organization." It bears mentioning that Miller wrote this, not in the context of a commentary on the NCAA's legitimacy, but in a lamentation on that season's PAC10 title game matchup. The NCAA ruled that McNair had engaged in unethical conduct, claiming that McNair had known about some of Bush's improperly received benefits, and sanctioned him with a show-cause penalty, prohibiting his interactions with football recruits for one year. Following a failed appeal of his sanctions, McNair announced an intent to sue the NCAA, accusing the body of libel, slander and misconduct. On January 20, 2013, it was reported that McNair would be the new running backs coach of the Arizona Cardinals. However, 12 days later, McNair stated that he would not be joining the Cardinals' coaching staff. On January 10, 2019, McNair agreed to terms to become the new running backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Lawsuit against the NCAA
On June 6, 2011, McNair filed suit against the NCAA, alleging that the collegiate athleticsgoverning body wrongfully caused him to lose his job with the Trojans because of punishment handed down in 2010 in the Reggie Bush case. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages for libel, slander, breach of contract and four other alleged offenses. It also takes issue with the one-sided examination policy established by the NCAA, which doesn't allow those targeted by investigations to cross-examine witnesses used. The disputed issues in McNair's appeal centered on the believability of one of the NCAA's key witnesses in the case, Lloyd Lake, the would-be sports marketer who allegedly provided substantial amounts of money to Reggie Bush's family over a two-year period while the star running back played for the Trojans. McNair, the NCAA ruled last June, either knew or should have known about Bush's relationship with Lake and purposely misled investigators. But McNair said that he did not know about the relationship between Lake and Bush, and that the NCAA itself committed misconduct in the process of its investigation. In November 2012, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Frederick Shaller ruled that the NCAA was "malicious" in its investigation of McNair. In his ruling, the Judge stated that e-mails between an investigative committee member, an NCAA worker, and a person who works in the agency's appeals division "tend to show ill will or hatred" toward McNair. In an e-mail, one staffer called McNair "a lying morally bankrupt criminal, in my view, and a hypocrite of the highest order." Judge Shaller said he would unseal the entire inquiry into McNair in December. On December 3, 2018, McNair petitioned for a new trial, which was granted in January 2019 with the Los Angeles Times noting, "The judge wrote that the infractions committee's report was false "in several material ways."
