He insists that he filled a space missing for so many of his players. "I'm a parent, an uncle, I'm whatever they need at the time," he says.
As he talks, it becomes clear that despite all that has been revealed about him - despite the fact that he's wearing prisoner stripes - McCown still regards himself as a role model, the man who accepted the Martin Luther King award in 2003.
To him, the McCown who interacted with kids and the McCown who committed crimes are only marginally connected. He considers his past not a liability but an asset. While many youth organizations disqualify coaches for felonies, he believes his turbulent history equipped him to understand and communicate with difficult-to-reach kids because he has been there.
He says he even tried to stop a Gators player from selling drugs. Drug dealing is a never-ending sideshow in the neighborhood surrounding the practice field. "I used to smoke marijuana, so I knew how to come at him," McCown said. "I talked to him in the same way he'd talk to people on the street." His mother and sister say the story is true.
Then, he asserts that the key to any good mentor is to "have control over themselves."
But, he is asked, doesn't his behavior suggest he is not the best example of someone in control of himself?
He objects. "Sometimes I do scream at the referees, and sometimes I scream at the kids, but I've never been thrown out of games in the seven years I've been coaching," he says. And, he says, he taught his players that guns were for "cowards."
But what of his own criminal history? McCown lowers his head, as if he hadn't expected the matter to come up. He rambles for a moment about peer pressure and bad choices.
He says he knows that his latest arrest was upsetting to his players. What he didn't know - and what might surprise some - is that Gators parents and coaches emphatically stand by him.
Despite all the unwanted attention, many say that McCown has been wrongly accused and that his past mistakes shouldn't obscure what he did for the kids.
When it comes to felons, Gators parents say, people see what they want to see or are predisposed to see. "I've never been locked up, but if a man makes a mistake he should have a chance to fix it," Eubanks said. "It wasn't like he was a pedophile. I've seen him dedicate himself to the kids."
