From 1986 to 1996, Don McLeary was the head football coach for the University of Tennessee at Martin. He is the third winningest coach in UT Martin history, leading UT Martin to a shared Gulf South Conference Championship and the NCAA Division II Quarterfinals. He was inducted into the UT Martin Athletics Hall of Fame in October 2006.[10]
Don McLeary served as the vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. He was also a member of the Senate State and Local Government Committee as well as the Lottery Information and Recommendation Committee, Select Committee on Education, and Government Operations Committee.[1]
In the 2006 general election, Don McLeary was defeated by 477 votes in a huge upset by Democratic opponent Lowe Finney.[17] In 2010, McLeary lost to Finney again, receiving 24,563 votes to Finney's 25,774.
Political views
McLeary co-sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 31 in 2005 to put on the November 2006 gubernatorial election ballot a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Tennessee to ban gay marriage.[18] He was also one of 24 state senators to favor putting on the ballot a proposal to remove any guarantees to the right to an abortion from the state constitution.[19] The proposal later failed to pass a panel in Tennessee House of Representatives.[20]
After holding a town hall meeting, McLeary proposed legislation that would direct the Tennessee Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance to develop a proposal to create an insurance pool to provide full coverage to residential and commercial property owners that are unable to obtain insurance coverage following widespread cancellation after a natural disaster. The bill, passed in April 2004, was co-sponsored by Roscoe Dixon in the state senate and by Johnny Shaw and Jimmy Eldridge in the House.[21][22]