Jim McElwain Is The Perfect Fit For The Florida Gators
Jim McElwain is the perfect fit for Florida Gators football. He's brought a unique blend of coaching to a historic program that has the Gator Nation rejuvenated.
The forecast in Gainesville, Fla. looks much different than it did this time last year. In terms of Florida Gators football, the winds have shifted.
The only problem is there aren’t any flags on top of the goalposts on Florida’s practice field — much to the displeasure of head coach Jim McElwain.
“That was an attention to detail that drove me nuts,” McElwain said, gaining traction for a rant. “We got a new facility out here, and we didn’t have flags on the outdoor goalposts — you know up on top to see the wind direction. It’s like ‘how long are we gonna do this.’ We got ‘em on the inside in case the air conditioning blows.”
McElwain tossed his hands up in disgust, and when asked if the goalpost flags had been put up yet, he shot back, “I know this: they’re gonna be.”
The new tone set by McElwain isn’t easy to distinguish.
When Urban Meyer was the head coach, the Gators had four recruiting classes ranked in the top five and two other classes ranked in the top 15. One of Meyer’s shiniest qualities is his ability to recruit at a high level.
It remains to be seen what McElwain can ultimately do with luring top-flight athletes to Florida. Though in the first two months he held the job, he lived on the recruiting trail and eventually secured a top 25 class for the Gators. He attracted five-star prospects like Martez Ivey and CeCe Jefferson. He landed wide receiver Antonio Callaway, who has broken out as a freshman phenom.
Imagine what he can accomplish with more time and some wins under his belt. He’s no longer selling a pipe dream of the Gators returning back to the top. Florida is staring down the barrel of a Southeastern Conference Championship appearance and — dare it be said — a birth in the College Football Playoff.
It’s hard to imagine for a team that, not too long ago, had a collection of quarterbacks that could barely toss a rock in a pond.
But McElwain hasn’t just provided wins and recruits, he’s changed the entire program.
“That kind of goes to show what he’s trying to build and instill — not just in the players but basically the entire program and the entire organization,” said Cody Jones, of Scout.com, on this week’s Gator Nation Football Podcast. “That’s what you’ve seen change at Florida. The secondary, the support staff basically that he’s got, is completely different looking than anything that [Will] Muschamp had and really different than anything [Urban] Meyer had. It’s so much bigger… there’s so many experienced guys on there. They have guys on there specifically for recruiting. It’s just the whole infrastructure of the program just looks totally different than it did even a year ago.”
In less than a year, McElwain has constructed a platform for a sky-scraping program. Florida has a top 15 recruiting class right now with 20 commits, and five of them are four-star prospects. Sure, it can be argued that nothing is set in stone until National Signing Day, but break out the marble because McElwain is sculpting a masterpiece right now.
If the Gators can find themselves with a top five class this year, McElwain will prove he has the recruiting charisma that Meyer has.
But the proof that McElwain is the perfect fit doesn’t stop there.
For the current minority — the McElwain skeptics — just take a look at how he conducts himself and his players.
It was 25 years ago that Steve Spurrier took over a mediocre Gators team and injected a dose of fun and character into the program.
Whether it’s illuminating goalpost flags as a pressing need on the practice field or taking a surgical approach toward constructing the perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich, McElwain has proven he isn’t just about the Xs and Os. He’s about instilling fun and moxie — just like Spurrier was.
The only difference is McElwain is doing it with his own spin.
He keeps a quarterback competition open when it probably should have been closed after the second week of the season. He consoles a teary-eyed Will Grier as he admits to one of the biggest mistakes of his young career with the nation watching. He calls LSU’s tick play “a badge of honor.”
And, when asked about the depth of Florida’s offensive line, he responds with, “We had I think a pizza delivery guy, a bartender and one heck of an engineering student that came out and helped us get through spring practice.”
McElwain is a double helix of Spurrier’s Fun ’n’ Gun personality and Meyer’s charismatic recruiting ability.
He’s a healthy mix of the two greatest head coaches in the history of Florida Gators football.
