Jim McElwain to coach the Florida Gators

By
Nick de la Torre
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Just five days after Will Muschamp coached his final game in orange and Blue the University of Florida and Jeremy Foley have found his replacement.

Jim McElwain will be the 24th head coach of the Florida Gators after Jeremy Foley flew out to Fort Collins, Colorado to meet with and offer him the job. The two parties hit a snag when they couldn’t reach an agreement on the hefty $7.5 million dollar buyout that came along with McElwain. However, the two parties have come to an agreement after a few days of negotiation.

McElwain was the offensive coordinator for two national championships at Alabama where the Crimson Tide offense finished sixth, fifth, third and second in consecutive years. While at Alabama, McElwain was a key recruiter for the Tide and helped bring in Florida products Dee Hart, Julio Jones, Amari Cooper, HaHa Clinton-Dix and Phillip Ely. After guiding the Crimson Tide offense, McElwain was given his first head coaching opportunity at Colorado State.

The Rams were coming off of a 3-9 season when McElwain took the helm and he became the first Colorado State head coach to beat rival Colorado in his coaching debut when the Rams overcame an 11-point deficit to win 22-17.

McElwain’s Rams improved each season under his control finishing 4-8 his first season then 8-6 and a 10-2 mark this year. He was named the Mountain West Coach of the year after his offense averaged 35.9 points-per-game and finished seventh in the country in passing (323.6 ypg.)

McElwain will be tasked with re-vamping a Gators’ offense that finished 93rd in the country in total offense at the end of the regular season.

 

Nick de la Torre
Nick de la Torre
http://www.Gatorcountry.com
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

5 COMMENTS

    • Okay…
      So here is THE opportunity for Snowprint to make a resonable response.
      Don’t get me wrong, like ALL of us, I got totally tired of his comments. Got totally ticked off at his repeated negative comments over the months.
      But hopefully, lets see if the guy can rise up a bit and say something constructive.
      Maybe I am being a bit too optimistic here… but lets give Scrooge a chance to say something intelligent and meaningful for a change.