Who is Jim McElwain?

By: Jeremy Mason

 

            “I got to tell you something now, what an honor, how humbling it is to be a part of one of the greatest brands in all of college athletics, to have the opportunity to be a part of something that's real special.”  You look out and you see that stadium, you think about all the great players, people, tradition that has been built at the University of Florida.  That's something that is so exciting.  I grew up in Montana.  These are things you dream about.” Said Florida’s new Head Football Coach. Indeed it is! Jim McElwain is just an average guy of 53 years of age who grew up in the small city of Missoula, Montana. There is no doubt that Coach Mac has always had football in his roots. After being an all-state Quarterback at Sentinel High School, Jim went on to play college football at Eastern Washington from 1980-1983, and then from there began his coaching career.

            Jim McElwain started off as a graduate assistant coach at Eastern Washington before becoming the Quarterback/Wide Receivers coach in 1987. In 1995, he left Eastern Washington to become the offensive coordinator at Montana State. So far, you can definitely tell that Coach Mac had his start at the lower-tier teams before getting some pretty good jobs. Jim went on to coach WR’s at Michigan State and Louisville after his stay with Montana State. Notably, he went on to be the QB coach for the Oakland Raiders.

          After that came his best job and what people know him best, being the offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Being under Nick Saban was the unquestionably biggest stepping stone in McElwain’s career, helping the Tide win two National Championships in 2009 and 2011. His offensive mind and craft helped develop Greg McElroy and A.J. McCarron. In May 2015 at the annual spring football meetings for the SEC, Saban was very high on McElwain and made it clear he thought he’d do a great job at Florida.

          "Jim did a really fantastic job for us," Saban said. "First of all, he's a real quality person. Players really respect him and like him. He's a really good teacher. He's innovative in terms of things that he does that create problems, and I think he really has the best interest of the player in mind — and the game.”

           Being so successful at arguably the most prestigious college football program in the country helped Coach Mac get his first head coaching job at Colorado State, where he developed a subpar program into a 10 win team in his last year there. McElwain went on to win the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in that same year, 2014.

           That leads us to now, October 28, 2015. Let’s start by what led up to the position he is now. University of Florida Athletic Director Jeremy Foley had one thing in mind when going on his coaching search: let’s bring the excitement back to Gainesville. Restore the order. That meant Foley had to go out there and get an offensive mind, particularly one that has made a knack for developing quarterbacks. Jim McElwain met all of that criteria and it also helped that Jim had previous SEC experience, winning those 2 National Championships on the way. Jim McElwain had a tall task at hand, and in the sports world nowadays, fans want results now. There wasn’t much time for McElwain to “rebuild” the brand and program that is the University of Florida, and fans wanted to see results now. They wanted that and by God, they got that!

          Florida’s offense in the past four years under former Coach Will Muschamp was dismal to say the least, boasting one of the worst offenses in all of college football. Now, by no means was Coach Mac going to have this team with this roster as a perennial powerhouse on offense the first year, but through seven games, the improvement has been substantial. This defense has been one of the best for quite some time, even under Will Muschamp, so all this team really needed was an offense with a pulse so to speak.

           So here we are, with four games to go and the annual World’s Largest Cocktail Party with Georgia coming up on Saturday, Jim McElwain has this team, who went 7-5 last year and 4-8 the year before that, 6-1 and one win away on Saturday from punching there ticket to the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. 6 games into the year, starting Quarterback and Redshirt Freshman Will Grier was suspended for the remainder of the season for an over the counter PED. Some, including myself, considered this to be a huge blow.

          But with Coach Mac at the helm, this team and Sophomore QB Treon Harris is in good hands. Treon Harris isn’t what most people think is Mac’s typical QB. But no mistake about it, Treon Harris is a gamer, coming in last year and finishing with a decent 4-2 record. By no means do I believe in moral victories, but Coach Mac got this team up and ready to play in Death Valley with its backup QB. If not for a fake field goal and a couple defensive miscues, this Florida team could’ve walked out of Death Valley with a W. Unfortunately, the Gators came up short, 35-28, but the talk around the league was that the Gators were impressive in a loss. As Coach McElwain always preaches, you’re only as good as your next practice or game.
   
         When asked about whether or not McElwain had expectations to be in the position to win the SEC East, he said, “Well, of course. You don’t prepare as hard as we do to lose, we expect win here. They’re no participation ribbons in this business.” This season has already surpassed just about every fan’s expectation for the team. Even after the LSU loss, even after the lofty expectations and being picked to finish 4th and 5th in the SEC East, the Florida Gators control its destiny to Atlanta and can all but lock it up on Saturday with a win against rival Georgia. Take a bow, Jim McElwain.     

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