McElwain makes sense as Michigan WRs coach, despite odd announcement

If you’re just catching up, here’s why Florida fired McElwain (and why his new job should be a solid fit).

The episode that led up to Jim McElwain’s firing by Florida last October was bizarre.

While the Gators were on a two-game losing streak, the coach gave a press conference in which he implied that he, his family, and other members of the program had faced death threats. The school, of course, met with McElwain to learn more about that serious problem, but then said in a statement that McElwain didn’t offer any further details.

That led to questions about whether McElwain had made the threats up. Further information never came out. The program was already under a cloud because of an ongoing credit card and ID theft scandal involving several players, and the Gators decided to get rid of McElwain. The school paid him $7.5 million of an anticipated $12.9 million buyout, with the death threats thing and the school’s relationship with his agent both floated as reasons.

A few weeks later, Florida hired Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen to replace McElwain.

Michigan hired McElwain as wide receivers coach in March and announced his hiring with what we’ll call optimistic language.

Nobody who watched Florida the last few years would call the Gators’ offensive “explosive,” unless the context was to call it “an explosive dumpster fire” or something like that.

But here was Michigan’s description:

McElwain’s units were explosive on offense during his time at Florida, especially through the passing game. His 2015 aerial attack became Florida’s first since 2009 to throw for more than 20 touchdowns with fewer than 11 interceptions (on 405 attempts), and the team’s 410 attempts in 2016 were the most by any Gator team since 2002. Six receivers recorded multiple receiving touchdowns in both of those seasons, a feat not previously accomplished since 2008.

Those were some really odd stats to choose. Florida’s offense was terrible.

McElwain is an easy coach to make fun of, for obvious reasons.

And it’s not just because Florida fired him after making it seem a whole lot like he’d made up death threats as a ploy for public sympathy during a losing streak.

Before the season, a picture emerged of some naked guy on a boat humping a dead shark. It was not McElwain. But the guy looked a lot like McElwain:

Rumors swirled: Had McElwain gotten completely nude and then planted his body on top of a dead water animal? McElwain did not laugh the rumors off. He referred to Sharkgate as an attack on the university and an attack on his family.

In general, McElwain’s public image was that he took himself too seriously. That he won the SEC’s JV East division two years in a row before getting bounced by Alabama didn’t make him any less of a target for ire or humor.

He’s definitely qualified for his job Michigan, though.

He’s been a receivers coach at a handful of places before, including Louisville and Michigan State. He was once upon a time Alabama’s offensive coordinator, before he left for the head job at Colorado State and then in Gainesville. In addition to his experience coaching receivers, McElwain can use recruiting relationships from Florida to help him at Michigan.

And on his way out of Florida, McElwain did a really good thing.

After Florida fired McElwain, he sold his house for $400,000 less than he’d paid for it a couple of years earlier. Many of us joked about him “taking another loss.”

It later came out that the McElwains had sold their house to a family with two children who had disabilities. The house had ramps, lifts, and wide hallways that made it a good fit for wheelchairs. The McElwains’ real-estate agent said they didn’t play the market as aggressively as they could’ve, instead selling it to a family that could use it.

McElwain was an easy coach to joke on, but no jokes here: That was a good thing.