“I think the biggest thing the program needed was confidence and enthusiasm,” Greg McElroy told Gatorcountry.com in an exclusive interview.
The Florida Gators were in desperate need of a culture change when they hired Jim McElwain to be their head football coach. The Gators had compiled an 11-13 record over the previous two seasons and were under .500 (7-9) in Southeastern Conference play. A losing mentality was settling in to Gainesville, one that hadn’t been present since the NCAA probation riddled years in the late ‘80s.
“That’s one thing that he and his staff have done a wonderful job of and that’s instilling confidence in the players,” McElroy said. “This was an offense that when I went to practice in the spring looked cautious and looked scared to make a mistake.”
That’s exactly what the offense had looked like for years in Gainesville. Just get out of the way of the defense, don’t make a mistake, hold on to the ball and let the defense get some rest; who knows, maybe they’ll return a fumble or an interception for a touchdown and then the offense doesn’t even need to worry about scoring a touchdown.
Even with McElwain at the helm in the spring, the Gators didn’t look like they would be as competitive as they have been. With just a handful of healthy offensive linemen, playmakers without defined roles and no starting quarterback, the offense didn’t have an identity, they didn’t know how to be great and, even worse, they were too afraid of giving what needed to be given to achieve greatness.
McElwain, NCAA probation and the rest of the offense staff had their hands full. They quickly identified that, yes, despite popular belief; there were in fact playmakers on offense. They had just been underutilized, incorrectly deployed, or forgotten altogether by the previous staff. The biggest task wasn’t finding those players, but making them believe that they had what it takes to be great players and, in turn, be a great team.
“They’re really understanding what it takes every single day,” McElwain said after Florida beat Missouri.
Mac is a detail-oriented coach. He stresses the little things not only to his staff and players, but to the entire organization, making sure the trainers put ice in the Gatorade bucket before practice and that the entire organization is running smoothly.
“In fact, that was an attention to detail that drove me nuts. We got a new facility out here and we didn’t have flags on the outdoor goal posts,” McElwain said sort of jokingly, mostly perturbed. “You know, up on top to see the wind direction.”
It’s the meticulous attention to detail that has helped this Florida Gators team the most. When a player loses confidence, every little thing, every small mistake, piles on and brings them further down. McElwain has a way about him where he can bring the confidence of his players up and keep it there.
After Florida’s first win of the season the team let it soak in and spill over into their preparation the following week. McElwain ripped into the way they handled success, this is the University of Florida, he said, winning should be expected. The team bounced back, playing as confident as they had been since their title runs under Urban Meyer and then they hit a speed bump. A loss at LSU was a crushing blow to a young team that had spent the last six weeks learning to walk and then finally started to hit their stride running.
That’s when McElwain’s approach would change. Greg McElroy didn’t experience many losses at Alabama when McElwain was there — McElroy was 24-3 as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback — but he does remember seeing a distinct change in McElwain following losses.
“Of course we were all disappointed after a loss but he would almost build you up after a difficult outing and break you down after a good outing,” McElroy told Gator Country. “That allows you as a player to kind of keep an even perspective and recognize what it is that you just experienced.”
In McElroy’s estimation, the Gators were probably coddled as much as they have been since Mac has been in charge following their loss to LSU. McElwain understands the human psyche and how quickly one loss can turn off a team’s confidence. He can’t allow that to happen with the biggest game of the season against Georgia just days away and he hasn’t allowed it to happen.
Florida spent their bye week working on themselves. It allowed the Gators a chance to see what they look like on film to opponents, change some calls and hand signals and really reevaluate what is working and what isn’t. Their attention to Georgia was turned on Sunday night when the team met and the gameplan was installed on Monday. With two weeks to prepare a gameplan for a Georgia defense that plays loose, physical and takes chances, his former quarterback believes that McElwain will have some additional wrinkles to throw at Georgia.
“He ties game plans together as well as anybody,” said McElroy. “That’s something I always really respected Jim McElwain for; how much time, thought and effort he put into a gameplan. As a result you often see a very successful, very confident offense that’s executing at a high level.”
pretty darn good article.
good to get McElroy’s perspective. interesting to read how McElwain approaches and manages the team/player psyche and confidence.
I also think, from observation, that CJM does a really nice job of linking the plays together in a gameplan. makes for an interesting Saturday.
Gotta give McElroy his props. When we hired coach Mac, I saw him on the SEC network, telling Finebaum that Mac was the perfect hire, and he’ll get the program turned around quickly.