John Mackovic made one of his top off-seaon hires in early February in luring former colleague Mike Deal from the NFL Europe ranks to become offensive coordinator at Arizona.
He has broad experience on both sides of the ball and played defensively in college.
Deal worked in the same position for the Scottish Claymores the past two seasons. He'll coach the offensive line for UA.
Deal was the offensive line coach for Mackovic at Illinois during part of the latter's tenure there from 1989 to 1991, and later served in the same capacity under Mackovic in his final three years at Texas from 1995-97.
Overall a three-decade veteran of the coaching profession, he was offensive line coach at Vanderbilt from 1998-2000, Texas from 1995-97, Illinois from 1989-94 and Kansas State from 1986-88, where he also served as coordinator.
Deal was a three-year letterman and defensive back on Indiana University's 1968 Rose Bowl team and was selected to the Blue-Grey Game in 1969 and the Senior Bowl in 1970. He graduated that spring from IU and spent summer 1970 on the Washington Redskins training camp roster, then turned to coaching and enjoyed a successful prep coaching career at four Indiana high schools from 1971 to 1977.
He was assistant coach at Portage High from 1971-72, while completing his master's degree at IU. He then was head coach at Knox High in 1973-74, head coach at Crown Point in 1975 and head coach at Chesterton in 1976-77.
He joined the college coaching ranks at Wabash College as offensive coordinator and line coach from 1978-82, and later moved to Davidson to coach defensive backs and serve as recruiting coordinator in 1983. He then spent spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Marshall in 1984-85 before joining the Kansas State staff.
At Texas in 1996, Deal helped All-American and Outland Trophy finalist Dan Neil lead the Longhorns to 209 rushing yards per game, produce a 1,000-yard rusher and spark the nation's only group to rank among the top 25 in rushing, passing, total offense and scoring. The group also snapped Nebraska's defensive string at 39 games with a sack.
His 1995 UT club ranked No. 22 nationally in rushing and had a 1,000-yard duo in Ricky Williams and Shon Mitchell. Deal also developed the skills of All-Southwest Conference tackle John Elmore.
At Illinois, Deal pupil and left tackle Brad Hopkins earned All-Big Ten and All-America honors in 1992 and later became an 11-year NFL veteran. Under Deal's direction, Kansas State led the Big Eight in passing in 1988. At Wabash, the Little Giants compiled a 42-3-1 record in his five seasons as offensive coordinator, including a pair of undefeated seasons.
Deal has coach or played in seven bowl games, including five while at Illinois.
He and his wife, Nancy, have a daughter, Tiffany and a granddaughter, Riley. Quarterbacks coach Jeff Hecklinski is his son-in-law.
The Deal File
| Full Name: | Michael H. Deal |
| Hometown: | Hobart, Ind. |
| College: | Indiana University, 1970/1971 |
| Recruiting Areas: | Phoenix, Northern Arizona, El Paso, Offensive Linemen |
| Bowl Experience: | 1967 Rose (player), 1989 Citrtus, 1990 Hall of Fame, 1991 Hancock, 1992 Holiday, 1994 Liberty, 1995 Sugar, 1997 Fiesta |
