HOOVER, Ala. — Among rolling hills lush with green trees as far as the eye can see The Wynfrey Birmingham with high-rising floors full of shiny, reflective windows juts out discernibly against an otherwise rural Alabama backdrop.
This is where the college football season starts and more importantly for Florida Gators fans, this is where Florida Gator Head Coach Jim McElwain introduced himself to the nation.
“First and foremost, I just want to say what an honor it is to be back in the SEC and how humbling it is to be the head ball coach with the University of Florida,” McElwain began his opening monologue.
Good start, Coach.
As he did in December, Jim McElwain once again won the press conference. His cool, calm demeanor ingratiated himself to the throngs of media members that sat before him and to all the fans watching him at home. McElwain came out of the gate in December full of bravado, guns blazing. He has since backed off of that strong standpoint, even pointing out that his roster was “inadequate” (in his words) in some areas, but he knows the expectations.
Driving in to work he passes a bronze statue of Steve Spurrier — a coach he will face this season. “I look forward someday being really able to sit down and pick his brain, because he’s one of the true guys offensively that knows how to get it done,” McElwain said of Spurrier.
He walks past three crystal balls representing what fans expect Florida to contend for on a regular basis and he knows that coaches who don’t appease the fan base are not long for their jobs.
“That’s the way it is, but you know what, it’s that way for everybody,” he said. “So, the pressures itself, those are the things that you really put on yourself. I’m confident that we’ve put a good thing together and looking forward to executing it.”
To his credit, McElwain has been able to get his players to buy in. His résumé speaks for itself. A National Championship at Alabama, where he engineered a Crimson Tide offense that was 21st in the nation in scoring (32.1 points per game). The players knows the names Mark Ingram, Julio Jones, Trent Richardson and Eddie Lacy — all players McElwain coached and for the offensive players in particular, they’re happy to be getting some love from their head coach for once.
“Coach Mac, he’s more of an offensive guy so you get to see him a lot and talk to him a lot, sophomore receiver Brandon Powell said.
As Jeremy Foley would say, McElwain is checking boxes. Get the fan base behind you, check. Get the players on board, check. Create a new culture. The new dorm rooms that players will move into and an indoor practice facility that will be ready in the fall give you that check.
The only boxes left open can’t be marked off until September 5. Jim McElwain is saying all of the right things during the “talking season” as Steve Spurrier calls it. Come September 5 the real season begins and McElwain will need to start checking boxes in the win column.
I have a theory about the “Talking Season” as referenced by Steve Spurrier. I feel there is a close comparison with the top 20 college teams and their out come at the conclusion of football season, with the number of off field events. If a team has more than five separate events that led to disciplinary action, that team could fall as much as five spots at the end of the national ranking. It’s just a thought, but it comes to a point the team is spending more time on correcting or covering things instead of practicing and getting the edge in communication with the players. Just an idea what do you all think? Again, this is just an opinion, but I feel when a team has several off field distractions, they would lose focus of the obvious goal of winning championships.