From 1967 to 1970, Dr. McCabe chaired the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at Mackinac College on Mackinac Island. There he oversaw theater productions by students and staff, their many performances including The Glass Menagerie, John Brown's Body, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, Everyman, Salad Days, and The Zoo Story. In 1968, John Brown's Body was entered in the Regionals of the American College Theater Festival. When Mackinac College closed in 1970, he taught Speech, Shakespeare, and Drama at Lake Superior State College (now Lake Superior State University) (Sault Ste. Marie)) for 16 years while maintaining his home on Mackinac Island. As a professor, McCabe pushed his students in writing and speech. He and two other professors established the Unicorn Hunters, and annually published a word to be banned from use on campus - one year it was "awesome".