GNY EP.210 | feat. Macky MacPherson
In Episode 210 of Good News York, host Noah Chrysler sits down with Macky MacPherson — a born-and-bred Syracuse native whose journey has taken him from the gridiron to the stage. Macky opens up about his football career, from playing high school ball at CBA in Syracuse to suiting up for the Syracuse Orange as team captain and eventually living out a childhood dream in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills. But as Macky explains, the dream came with a cost: the relentless pressure, the constant fear of being replaced, and the toll it took on his mental health.
Noah and Mackie dive deep into the role of an NFL center — the chess-like reads, the verbal calls, and the leadership required to orchestrate an offensive line — before exploring how those same communication and teamwork skills translated into Mackie’s post-football life. After being cut from the NFL (told he simply wasn’t tall enough), Mackie faced a full identity crisis. A stint in college coaching followed, but when COVID hit and the coaching job disappeared, Mackie found himself in what he calls a "true ego death" — unemployed, uncertain, and forced to reimagine his entire sense of self.
That period of struggle led to a career pivot into project management at Syracuse University, where he helped oversee a massive LTE network installation at the JMA Wireless Dome and now serves as Associate Director of Facility Services overseeing seven departments. Along the way, Mackie credits his wife — a mental health therapist who encouraged him to seek therapy — with helping him navigate one of the most difficult transitions of his life.
Today, Mackie is embracing his creative side: performing with an improvisational jam band called The Wonderful Wednesdays (who are heading to Elmira to record their first EP), diving into Dungeons & Dragons as a dungeon master, and joining the Syracuse Improv community. He and Noah bond over their shared love of Pokémon, D&D, and the powerful realization that vulnerability — whether on stage or in life — is where real growth happens. Mackie also shares the news that he and his wife are expecting a baby boy around Christmas.
This is a conversation about identity, reinvention, mental health, and the courage it takes to walk away from the only dream you’ve ever known — and discover that there’s more to success than what you thought.
Chapters:
0:00 — Cold Open
0:11 — Welcome to Good News York
0:44 — Mackie’s Football Journey
1:42 — The Mental Toll of the NFL
3:28 — Inside the Center Position
6:18 — Football, D&D & the "Six Things" Theory
8:56 — Leadership Lessons from the Offensive Line
13:11 — Reinventing Life After the NFL
16:02 — Identity Crisis & the COVID Pivot
19:16 — Project Management at Syracuse University
22:56 — Therapy, Mental Health & Marriage
26:17 — Advice to His Younger Self
33:06 — The Wonderful Wednesdays: Improv Music
37:57 — Conquering Stage Fright
43:13 — Outro & Where to Find Mackie
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Follow Mackie on Instagram: @mackiemacpherson
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