Farrell: McElwain era ends with a thud - and in bizarre fashion
The Jim McElwain era is over at Florida after two SEC East titles, a 22-12 record (16-8 in the SEC) - and apparently one big lie. Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell breaks down McElwain’s brief stay in Gainesville.
- First off, it is surprising that a coach who made history by leading his team to back-to-back SEC title games in his first two seasons has been fired in season No. 3, but the death threats McElwain apparently couldn’t prove were his undoing and a nice excuse for the administration to move on as his tenure started to take a turn for the worse. But those unconfirmed death threats were also a valid reason to get rid of McElwain, as they besmirched the reputation of Gators fans everywhere and seemed to be an attempt by the head coach to garner sympathy as this season fell apart. I stopped defending McElwain after the LSU and Texas A&M losses, as it was clear the offense wasn’t going to get better, but once the rumors about made-up death threats came out, I couldn’t believe it. Now I clearly do. This, to me, is as strange as the Manti Te’o made-up girlfriend deal. It is just astonishing.
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- McElwain was an interesting hire, a little-known assistant from Alabama who had a nice run at Colorado State, but was anything but a sexy name. Yes he was the offensive coordinator for the 2009 national champion Alabama team - a team that dominated Florida and Tim Tebow in the title game - but beyond that it was his work with quarterback Garrett Grayson at Colorado State that got him some attention. But if you look at his quarterback resume, from John Parker Wilson to Greg McElroy to AJ McCarron to Grayson, it wasn’t exactly a Who’s Who of elite quarterbacks. His offenses at Alabama were solid, but that was because of elite talent more than creative play calling, and his reputation as an offensive coach wasn’t stellar at the time of the hire. It was good, not great. Now we see why.
- The expectations at Florida, after Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer, are incredibly high, as you can see. Winning the SEC East twice, but getting pasted by Alabama, wasn’t enough for fans and boosters who want nothing but outright SEC titles. McElwain came in as a coach who could fix the offense, an offense that was horrible under Will Muschamp, and he wasn’t able to get it done. Florida ranked No. 93 in total offense in 2015, McElwain’s first year (in his defense he inherited an awful offensive line and very little talent at quarterback). However, in 2016 the offense finished worse, at No. 108, and this season it was No. 124 before his firing . Fifth-year transfer Malik Zaire was expected to win the starting quarterback job, but never did, and was very ineffective in the time he was on the field. Freshman Feleipe Franks appeared to be regressing as the season progressed, and Luke Del Rio was never the answer. Meanwhile, Kirby Smart’s Georgia team is undefeated in his second year and dropped 42 on the Gators this weekend. The patience among the decision makers, fans and boosters with McElwain’s offense was used up. In the end, it was his foolishness with the death threats that ended his tenure - but we all know this was about bad offense, in the end.
- In recruiting, McElwain was average at best, and Gators fans knew it. The recruiting rankings didn’t show it that much as he finished No. 23 in 2015, No. 14 in 2016 and No. 9 in 2017 and the Gators were No. 9 in 2018 at the time of his firing, but he never won that many big recruiting battles.
CeCe Jefferson and Martez Ivey were big commitments in his first year and Antonneous Clayton was a 5-star player in 2016, but those were the only five stars to sign with Florida and he had zero in this year’s class. That’s way down from the Urban Meyer years, of course, and even from the Will Muschamp recruiting years. And Florida settled for too many players like James Robinson and Brad Stewartin the 2017 class, players who didn’t have other big offers to choose from, despite their high rankings.
- In the state of Florida, the Gators struggled under McElwain. Including IMG Academy prospects, McElwain signed only two Top 20 players in the state in 2017 (Zachary Carter and Robinson) and zero in the Top 10. In 2016, Florida signed only two in the Top 20 again, with both being in the Top 10 (Chauncey Gardner, Feleipe Franks). By comparison, in 2017 Florida State signed five in the top 20, and in 2016 the Seminoles signed four in the Top 20. Miami signed more Top 20 players, as well in 2016. And so far in 2018, Miami and FSU have seven Top 20 players from the state of Florida commit, while the Gators have none. And in-state players like Tyreke Johnson, who many felt should be Gator locks, fell off their interest in Florida and appear to be headed elsewhere. The bottom line under McElwain is that there have been way too many big recruiting losses and not enough local wins as in-state recruiting has fallen off.
- With Florida not recruiting that well, which teams can benefit? LSU perhaps can if they can sway quarterback commitment Matt Corral (although that appears unlikely) and Florida State can use all the help it can get in the middle of its own horrible season, but to be honest the Gators weren’t that much of a threat to anyone in recruiting aside from teams they should beat out in recruiting. It’s not like FSU, Miami, Georgia, Clemson, Alabama or anyone else that recruits the state of Florida was having a ton of trouble with McElwain and company.
- So who should replace McElwain? One name - and one name only - stands out to me: Dan Mullen from Mississippi State. His former athletic director, Scott Stricklin, is at Florida, he’s coached there before and has had success with the offense, and he’s done a remarkable job at Mississippi State. An offensive hire is a must and a big name as well, as Muschamp was a defensive hire as the coach-in-waiting at Texas and McElwain was not a big splash nationally, as I’ve mentioned. Florida needs to go after Mullen and pull him away, unless there’s something between Mullen and Strickland I’m unaware of, or he departed Gainesville in a poor manner. You’ll hear names like Scott Frost, Charlie Strong, Matt Campbell, and even Bob Stoops, but to me Mullen is the man.
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