Figured I would post it here so people don't have to search through a bunch of photos of Not Jim McElwain on top of a dead shark.
McElwain inherited a dumpster fire at Colorado State. Within the first few months, he booted three players (including their two best defensive players) for assaulting a couple of pedestrians they'd exchanged words with from their car window. The previous coach had basically been everyone's best friend, and there were a lot of growing pains when it came to discipline. He won four games the first year, 8 the next, and by Year 3, CSU was in the top-25 and on the cusp of going to a NY6 bowl. From 2014-16, CSU had six players drafted, including four in the first three rounds. (They'd had six total in the last decade.)
Florida was a bad fit from Day 1. They asked him to pay part of his buyout from CSU (some of which I believe he was reimbursed by the boosters for). But on his first day as HC, they took him on a tour of the facilities. He immediately made a bad impression because he told them UF's facilities weren't up to par with the expectations they had. And they really weren't. Florida had coasted off Urban's national championship success, and it caught up to them with Muschamp. McElwain still won 19 games in his first two years, including the two SEC East titles. Offensively, the cupboard was damn near bare from Muschamp's recruiting classes, and there wasn't a whole lot of discipline with that group either. He started 3-4 in 2017, and then the wheels fell off with the shark photo, the death threats, etc.
The AD who hired him at Florida left in 2016, and the one who replaced him had previously been the AD at Mississippi State (hence why Dan Mullen is now the coach there). He and McElwain never really saw eye to eye, and the death threats situation gave him and the administration there a chance to start fresh.
He's won eight games at Central Michigan, and is playing for the MAC title this weekend. Last season, they were 1-11, but they'd won 6,7 and 8 games the three years before that. So what he's doing isn't completely unheard of at the school. But he does have NFL experience, two national titles under Saban at Alabama, and he was the OC there when they took over in 2007. As was mentioned in the other thread, his offenses at Florida were very bad. But he's a good offensive mind, and judging by the aforementioned six players drafted in three years, he can develop talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
McElwain inherited a dumpster fire at Colorado State. Within the first few months, he booted three players (including their two best defensive players) for assaulting a couple of pedestrians they'd exchanged words with from their car window. The previous coach had basically been everyone's best friend, and there were a lot of growing pains when it came to discipline. He won four games the first year, 8 the next, and by Year 3, CSU was in the top-25 and on the cusp of going to a NY6 bowl. From 2014-16, CSU had six players drafted, including four in the first three rounds. (They'd had six total in the last decade.)
Florida was a bad fit from Day 1. They asked him to pay part of his buyout from CSU (some of which I believe he was reimbursed by the boosters for). But on his first day as HC, they took him on a tour of the facilities. He immediately made a bad impression because he told them UF's facilities weren't up to par with the expectations they had. And they really weren't. Florida had coasted off Urban's national championship success, and it caught up to them with Muschamp. McElwain still won 19 games in his first two years, including the two SEC East titles. Offensively, the cupboard was damn near bare from Muschamp's recruiting classes, and there wasn't a whole lot of discipline with that group either. He started 3-4 in 2017, and then the wheels fell off with the shark photo, the death threats, etc.
The AD who hired him at Florida left in 2016, and the one who replaced him had previously been the AD at Mississippi State (hence why Dan Mullen is now the coach there). He and McElwain never really saw eye to eye, and the death threats situation gave him and the administration there a chance to start fresh.
He's won eight games at Central Michigan, and is playing for the MAC title this weekend. Last season, they were 1-11, but they'd won 6,7 and 8 games the three years before that. So what he's doing isn't completely unheard of at the school. But he does have NFL experience, two national titles under Saban at Alabama, and he was the OC there when they took over in 2007. As was mentioned in the other thread, his offenses at Florida were very bad. But he's a good offensive mind, and judging by the aforementioned six players drafted in three years, he can develop talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
