There are a few things in life you will never get a second chance at. Making a good first impression is one of those things and new Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain is nailing his first impression with the Gator Nation.
It began with a team meeting in Fort Collins, Colorado. McElwain was seen briefly leaving the meeting room and Matt Stephens of the Coloradoan reported seeing McElwain wiping a tear away as he walked by. Telling his team goodbye was hard, something he didn’t imagine doing probably just a week ago but the glowing remarks his former players gave him following practice on Thursday speak volumes to McElwain’s character.
Then came McElwain’s public goodbye to the University that gave him his first opportunity to run the show. In a series of three tweets, he made a graceful exit from Colorado State.
“From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank Ram Nation for all you’ve done for me. I’ve met some truly amazing & loyal fans here,” McElwain tweeted. “I am so proud of this team and what they’ve accomplished. They believed in #TheClimb and have set a standard for the future of [CSU Football]. I am excited and honored to be the head football coach for the University of Florida, but will carry the Rams with me forever.”
Shortly after, the University released a statement. First, Jeremy Foley
“Coach McElwain was someone we targeted from the beginning of the search,” said Foley. “The more we worked through the process and did our due diligence, coupled with our meeting and conversations with him and those around him, it was obvious he is the right person to lead the Florida Gator football program.”
It’s a turbulent time for the Gators who are 10-13 over the past two seasons with just a bowl game left to finish off this year. An astute offensive mind, Foley is confident, $7 millions dollars worth of confident, that Coach Mac can turn things around. Outgoing President, Bernie Machen, who signed off on the huge buyout, is also confident that one of his final acts as President will leave the University of Florida in good hands.
“It is with great pride and excitement that we welcome Coach McElwain and his family to the University of Florida,” said University president Bernie Machen. “We look forward to his leadership in the pursuit of excellence, both on and off the field.”
Then McElwain, who had just agreed to an extension at Colorado State not long ago, and who was committed to building a program and establishing tradition at a mid major until the phone rang with Foley’s 352 area code uttered his first words as Florida’s leader.
“It’s an honor to be a part of the one of most powerful brands in college athletics in the Florida Gators,” said McElwain. “I’m humbled, yet very excited about the tremendous opportunity that Dr. Machen and Jeremy Foley have afforded me and my family. I can’t tell you how eager I am to get to Gainesville to set a course for who we are going to be and what we will be all about.”
The initial news of the hire didn’t exactly send positive shockwaves through the orange and blue faithful. How could it after household names like Jon Gruden, Chip Kelly, Brian Kelly (I think Bear Bryant was even allegedly named a candidate for the head coaching job)?
The first act is over. McElwain broke up with his old University, exchanging it for a band new shiny model. On Saturday he’ll step in behind a podium, in front of a Gator blue backdrop with his new logo plastered on it behind him and he’ll address the nation for the first time publically.
If that introduction goes as well as today did, he’ll start winning over the fan base in no time. That is, until his first team goes out there. Then there’s only one thing that matters. It won’t matter that he isn’t a super bowl winning coach or that he isn’t the sexiest hire Florida could have made. What will matter is next August when he runs out on to the field for the first time and the Gators take the field.
All that will matter then, and what will ultimately define if this was money well spent are the wins and losses columns.
Just win.
Just win baby!
Just win, indeed. Gosh, this all seems vaguely familiar. I’ll have to admit though, he sure seems like a clean hire. He does have head coaching experience, and he has done well at all of his recent stops. There are no guarantees. I’m not gnashing my teeth, or wringing my hands, but my little OCD mind has reserved a teeny spot and the spot is labelled ‘consternation’. I’ll do my best to stay positive, I promise. In all seriousness, I’m actually quite excited. I hope we can secure some good offensive recruits.
My first concern is how he deals with the defensive staff. I hope he retains a gaggle of them-they have proven themselves already. With some offensive consistency and our current “D” we could and should do really well. As a matter of fact. I don’t see why we shouldn’t expect immediate change. As miserable as we were on offense this year we were close in a few key games.
Well, what we all asked for has happened. Change is good. I guess we can sit back and enjoy the ride. Go Gators. Happy Holidays folks. Thanks Santa :)
It is crystal clear that Florida was desperate in their latest and worst coaching hire of the last 25 years. To me it seems as if Foley knew Florida was not a top program anymore and decided instead to go after a coach that nobody else would want rather than have the Grudens and Stoops of world tell him “no” over and over again. He knew this was a sure-thing, and yes this is a contradiction to when I said Foley screwed the pooch the other day and completely botched this hiring. I will pretend now that I never uttered those words for fear that I will look like the complete fool I actually am. This is a bad hire. This man has only had 1 winning season, and please don’t check my facts here, and in that one winning season only went a mediocre 8-6. He will not change the offense at Florida because “we” have no good players on the roster anymore. Keeping Durkin is also a mistake because the defense stinks at UF right now, even though the defense this year was actually fantastic as the year progressed culminating in making the reigning Heisman Trophy winner look like garbage, I mean on the field garbage not the off the field garbage most of you suspect him to be, and almost single handily beating the defending champs with little to no offensive help. I still say they stink because at this point I contradict myself so often nobody will know the difference. Yes, my “fellow Gator fans” we are in for a world of hurt and the entire country will be laughing at us…and this time not because we win at all costs including the tossing of any and all morality out the window, refusal to suspend players , and teaching of our campus police to interfere with actual police work in order to get charges reduced…oh wait, am I talking about the wrong team now?