How Jim McElwain handles team discipline

The Florida Gators, picked to finish fifth in the SEC East at the 2015 SEC Media Days, started the season 6-0 and went on to win the East outright. Florida is 36 days away from getting back on the field to defend its SEC East title, but that wasn’t the topic of discussion as Jim McElwain made his way through ESPN Headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.

The timing was less than perfect. The day before McElwain flew out to the Worldwide Leader, two freshmen were arrested, changing the narrative of the prescheduled visit to ESPN.

“I spend the day at ESPN talking about that rather than that we were SEC East Champions,” McElwain told Paul Finebaum.

Since Jim McElwain has taken over at Florida six players have been arrested or cited by police, Chris Thompson, JC Jackson, Deiondre Porter, Jordan Scarlett, Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells.  Three of those, Thompson, Jackson and Porter, were not recruited by McElwain and two are no longer with the team. Jackson was acquitted of felony burglary charges in November of 2015. Porter, facing multiple felony charges, is still awaiting trial. Thompson had charges against him dropped due to insufficient evidence and remains on the team.

Jordan Scarlett was cited for misdemeanor possession of marijuana before Florida’s bowl game. Scarlett completed a deferred prosecution agreement and the charges were dropped. Scarlett didn’t make the trip to Orlando with the team and McElwain explained the freshman running back’s absence.

“Jordan Scarlett made some choices. He’s not going to play in the game but he will be back with the team,” McElwain said the Tuesday before the game. “He’s a great kid and he handled it the way you should handle it. Stood up, honest, I’m proud of that.”

Both Wells and Cleveland are being represented by Huntley Johnson, who formally entered into the courts that he will represent both football players on Monday afternoon. McElwain’s history with dealing with issues like this is plain.

“I think if you look at it since we’ve been there and how we’ve handled discipline, really, knock on wood, we haven’t had a lot of incidents,” McElwain told Finebaum. “That’s been really good, and yet, each one of us as we grow up and go through life, life’s about choices and decisions. We have freedom of choice. We certainly don’t have freedom of consequence.”

All-American cornerback Jalen Tabor has experienced the “choices” talk first hand. Tabor made “choices” prior to the Gators’ matchup with Tennessee last season and was suspended for the game.

“That was one of the biggest lessons I learned in life, not being able to play against Tennessee last year,” Tabor told reporters. “That really changed me as a young man and made me grow up a lot.”

Tabor now wears these wristbands as a daily reminder.

Florida’s football program has been relatively clean under McElwain. It’s a credit to how the coach handles his players. Much has been made of McElwain’s proclivity in making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for his players, a funny anecdote at first glance, but a gesture that McElwain says gives him time to get to know the guys on his roster as people, not just players. The bond that McElwain has built with his players in just over a year’s time boils down to his attitude and the way he approaches each player in his locker room. Each player is different, he says, and there isn’t a cookie cutter way to deal with the group as a whole.

“If you try to treat them all the same, you know I always get a kick out of that,” McElwain told Finebaum. “Everybody’s fingerprint is different, yet we want to treat the fingerprint all the same.”

Cleveland and Wells will have consequences for the actions that led to their arrest. They won’t be the same, as McElwain will treat each player in a way he feels will get through to them best. McElwain’s style isn’t corporal punishment. It isn’t Old Testament style, eye for an eye either. In his mind he’s a teacher before he’s a coach and the responsibility of teaching the young men who have been entrusted to his care outweighs all else.

“Our kids are very remorseful in their actions, but you know what, because of those actions there are consequences to follow. It’s one of those things that we can learn from our actions, I think that’s more important than beating on them what it is right now,” he said. “Rather, how we grow from it and grow as a team. That’s kind of how we handle things.”

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

2 COMMENTS

  1. “Three of those, Thompson, Jackson and Porter, were not recruited by McElwain and are no longer with the team….Thompson had charges against him dropped due to insufficient evidence and remains on the team.”

    Thompson is still on the team, right?