Jim McElwain has reportedly made his first hire as the head coach of the University of Florida. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated was first to report that Mississippi State defensive coordinator Geoff Collins would accept the same role for the Florida Gators.
Collins — whose bio at Mississippi State nicknames him the “Minister of Mayhem” — just finished his second full year as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State. The Bulldogs had the fourth best scoring (10th best in the nation at 19.4 points per game) and rushing defense in the SEC this past season.
McElwain’s first hire would be a splash. Current interim head coach D.J. Durkin was rumored as possibly being retained on staff. Durkin coached linebackers and special teams before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2013. Durkin has been linked to the defensive coordinator positions at UNC and Texas A&M in the past weeks.
Collins is young — 43 years old — and has been in the SEC before. Collins was the director of player personnel at Alabama in 2007. He has also recruited the state of Florida — something the Gators want to do first and foremost. He was a linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator at UCF (2007-09) and defensive coordinator/ linebackers coach at FIU (2010).
ESPN’s Joe Schad reported that Collins and Florida will agree to a contract three years in length.
Under Will Muschamp and D.J. Durkin the Gators regularly cranked out top-10 defenses Durkin has been with the program five years, is familiar with all of the current recruits and the defensive personnel. Another reason the hire comes as a surprise is that there is no history between McElwain and Collins. McElwain came to Alabama a year after Collins left and that is the closest the two have come to coaching together.
“Here’s the key: Get the best,” McElwain said during his opening press conference. “Get the best that’s a fit for the university, get the best that’s a fit for the area and we’ll do that very diligently.”
Collins is a young, high-energy guy who has recruited and coached in the state of Florida. Check off the “fit for the university” and “fit for the area” boxes.
“As we kind of build this moving forward, I talk about this for the people who are involved in what we do and how we do it; What I would ask is ‘let’s go affect the people around us in a positive way, let’s be part of something special and let’s keep pushing it to the next step,'” McElwain said.
Maybe he can bring Jamal Peters with him.