Jim McElwain

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James Frank McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach for Central Michigan University.

He worked at Florida from 2015 to 2017, and Colorado State from 2012 to 2014, where he was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in 2014.

He also served as offensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2008 to 2011.

Early life

In 1962, McElwain was born in Missoula, Montana. He was a quarterback at Sentinel High School in Missoula, where he was selected as an all-state quarterback. He continued to play quarterback in college at Eastern Washington from 1980 to 1983, earning a degree in education.

Personal life

Jim McElwain is married to Karen McElwain and has two children, Johanna and Elizabeth, as well as Jerrin, one son.

At Eastern Washington, Colin Cowherd's roommate was a radio personality.

The McElwains sold their home in Gainesville, Florida, losing nearly $400,000, which resulted in media rumors of McElwain's taking another loss at Florida. This transaction, on the other hand, was ultimately a favour to another family. The McElwains converted an eight-car garage into a guest wing after a previous owner of their house wanted it to be wheelchair friendly. The purchasers, medical equipment firm CEO Rick Staab, and his partner Michelle have three children, with the oldest being a wheelchair user due to dystonia, and the second being less affected by the same illness. The Staabs were looking for a larger house, and Rick remembered attending a fundraiser at the McElwain home and determining that it would fulfill his family's unique needs. The Staabs wanted to convert the converted garage, which had a wheelchair lift, into an apartment for their oldest child, and felt that the house could be a long-term home for the dystonia charity that had started more than a decade ago. Rick called their real estate agent and made an appointment before the McElwains had even listed their house. The McElwains' initial thought was a lowball bid, but they soon learned that it came from Staabs, and decided against a bid in early 2018.

The McElwains' living arrangements at Jim's new position in Central Michigan are unusual; they live in a barn a few miles away from campus. McElwain was hired at a party at the home of the athletic director of the program that was attended by many of the program's top contributors, including Chuck McGuirk, the namesake of CMU's basketball arena. When McGuirk asked the McElwains where they wanted to live, they told him that they would like to live in a barn. McGuirk had purchased a farm a few miles from campus earlier that included a 6,000-square-foot barn, but had no idea about building living quarters on the lower level. In comparison to a living space, the McElwains imagined the barn as a meeting space for large groups. When people visited the barn, they were sold on the property's potential, and McGuirk led the conversion of the barn into a combined home and meeting space.

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Coaching career

McElwain spent time as a graduate assistant and was later given the position of quarterbacks and receivers coach after graduating from Eastern Washington. During his time as a head coach from 1985 to 1994, his team made it to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs twice and took the Big Sky championship in 1992 under head coach Dick Zornes. McElwain, a native of Eastern Washington, has worked as Montana State's offensive coordinator. He had a fruitful career with the Bobcats from 1995 to 1999, and coached the offense to the top scoring offense in the Big Sky Conference in 1998, averaging 31.6 points per game.

McElwain's first coaching work in Division I-A football was at University of Louisville, where he served as the receivers and special teams coach from 2000 to 2002. Arnold Jackson, Deion Branch, Damien Dorsey, and Zek Parker were all-Conference USA receivers at Louisville. In addition, his special teams tied for the first time in 2000-2001. When he followed Louisville's head coach John L. Smith there, he was then offered the assistant head coaching position at Michigan State. In his first season as a receiver and special teams, he was able to help the Spartans win the Alamo Bowl.

McElwain's coaching stint in the National Football League was short. After his success with Michigan State, he was hired to be the Oakland Raiders' quarterback. He was with them for a year, when the Oakland Raiders ended the season 2-14. As head coach Art Shell was fired after the season, so were several of the assistant coaches, including McElwain.

McElwain began a career as the offensive coordinator at California State University in Fresno, California (Fresno State). He compiled a powerhouse offense with the Fresno State Bulldogs, averaging 419.5 yards a game and 32nd in the nation in points per game with 32.9 percent. He helped lead the 2007 Fresno State team to a 9–4 record on the year, which included a victory over Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.

McElwain accepted Nick Saban's offer to be the University of Alabama's offensive coordinator on February 1, 2008. The Crimson Tide's first season as the offensive coordinator, 12–0, before losing to the University of Florida and the University of Utah in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

McElwain's offense helped the Crimson Tide to a 12–0 record in 2009 in the regular season. In the 2009 SEC Championship Game, the team advanced to defeat the top-ranked team in the country, the Florida Gators. His defense dominated the Gators' number one defense in the country, clocking in 490 yards, more than double the number of yards the Gators defense averaged giving up all year. McElwain's offense defeated the Gators' offense 251 yards to 88 yards, 63 of which yards came from 2007 Heisman winner Tim Tebow. His offense put up 32 points and stayed on the ball for 39 minutes and 37 seconds, nearly twice the Gators' total of 20 minutes and 23 seconds. In the 2010 BCS National Championship Game, Alabama defeated the Texas Longhorns. The Crimson Tide finished the season with a 12–1 record, defeating the LSU Tigers 21–0 in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game.

McElwain had accepted the head coaching job with Colorado State in December 12, 2011. On December 13, 2011, a press conference was held at the Colorado State University Rams indoor practice facility to officially announce the appointment.

McElwain's tenure, nicknamed by the school's athletic department as "A Bold New Era," began on a high note. McElwain's Rams rose from an 11-point deficit to defeat arch-rival Colorado 22–17 at Sports Authority Field in Denver on September 1. McElwain was the first CSU coach to win his debut since Jerry Wampfler in 1970, and the first to win his debut against Colorado. The excitement didn't last long, as CSU suffered a 22–7 setback in their home opener a week later to defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State, which marked the beginning of a six-game losing streak. In McElwain's first season, the program showed promise toward the end of the season, winning three of their last five games and ending 4–8.

McElwain's second season with CSU was much more fruitful. CSU started the season poorly, losing their first two games, both of which they had led in the 4th quarter. On the other hand, CSU won 8 of its next 12 games, despite being down in 8 of the season. After CSU's dramatic comeback victory in the New Mexico Bowl, McElwain's second season as a result of 8–6.

McElwain's third season with CSU culminated in even more accolades. The Rams reeled off nine straight victories, climbing as high as #21 in the national rankings, as well as being in the middle of a potential New Year's Day bowl bid after a Week 2 loss at Boise State. Those hopes were shattered, however, as the Falcons' last regular season game at Air Force came to an end, defeating CSU's regular season at 10–2. Despite the loss, the Rams were still known for a strong offense year after year. In Rashard Higgins, Colorado State averaged 498 yards per game (13th best in the country), boasting the country's second most efficient quarterback in Garrett Grayson and the top receiver by yards per game (149.1) and touchdowns (17) in the nation's second best game. The Rams were one of only two "Group of 5" teams with victories in 2014 over two Power 5 conference teams, beating both Colorado and Boston College under McElwain.

McElwain was named the Mountain West Conference's coach of the year on December 2, 2014, as a result of the program's success.

McElwain was hired as the head coach of the University of Florida Gators by athletics director Jeremy Foley in December 2014.

In McElwain's debut against New Mexico State on September 5, 2015, the Gators won by a score of 61–13. Under McElwain, the Gators' regular season record stood at 10–2, which included a 38–10 victory over No.. The Gators' number three was moved to #10 by Ole Miss from the previous week. The Gators lost 35-28 to LSU because quarterback Will Grier was suspended. McElwain led the Gators to their first SEC Eastern Division championship since 2009 with a 9–7 victory over Vanderbilt, the first coach to win the SEC Eastern Division championship in his first year. The Gators suffered consecutive blowout losses to Florida State, Alabama, and Michigan, total score 97-22, after clinching the SEC Eastern Division championship.

In his first season as Florida's head coach, McElwain was named the 2015 SEC Coach of the Year.

In 2016, McElwain claimed his second straight Eastern Division title. However, the second half of the season saw a second-half loss to Tennessee, Florida State, and Alabama.

McElwain was the object of online mockery in 2017 when a snapshot of a man who looks like him, naked and in a compromising position with a shark on a boat surfaced. McElwain denied allegations that he was the man in the photo, who was later identified as a former New York City police officer.

McElwain discussed the dangers that he and his players faced during a press conference on October 23. Officials in Florida later said McElwain gave "no additional details" about the threats. This led school authorities to seriously consider firing McElwain for cause, according to ESPN.

The Gators faced the Georgia Bulldogs on October 28, 2017. There were rumors that Florida authorities were considering firing McElwain for cause, but Athletic Director Scott Stricklin denied there were any such discussions. Florida lost 42–7 to Georgia. McElwain visited Stricklin and other university representatives the next day (October 29). At the meeting, school administrators told McElwain that they intended to fire him for cause and that they did not owe him a single cent because he didn't bother to warn them about the suspected death threats. Eventually, Florida and McElwain mutually agreed to part ways, with immediate effect. Randy Shannon, the offensive coordinator, served as interim coach for the remainder of the season.

According to a post-mortem by ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Edward Aschoff, ties between McElwain and the administration had been extremely strained from the time McElwain first arrived on campus. McElwain's frequent criticism of the program and the administration's dedication to him made the relationship even worse. McElwain had been "an odd match" for Florida from the beginning, according to education authorities, who didn't seem to worry about "being a team." "This was not going to work," his remarks regarding the alleged dangers made it clear that "this wasn't going to work." His 34-game tenure in Gainesville was the shortest for a non-interim coach in more than 80 years.

McElwain was also chastised for on-field performances that fell short of what Florida fans had hoped for. He had been recruited not only to win games but to fix an offense that had been one of the country's poorest under his predecessor, Will Muschamp. The Gators were 96th in total offense in Muschamp's last season. The Gators actually regressed in McElwain's two-plus seasons, finishing 111th, 116th, and 112th (at the time of his removal). In two-plus years, his teams only scored 30 or more points seven times per year. Both defense and recruiting were also poor by Florida standards.

McElwain was named as the Michigan Wolverines' wide receivers coach on February 20, 2018. He had been confirmed that he would leave Michigan to become Central Michigan University's next head coach on December 2, 2018.

On December 2, 2018, McElwain was unveiled as the 29th head football coach of the Central Michigan Chippewas. With no victories against FBS opponents, McElwain took over a CMU program that had been 1-11 in 2018. McElwain led the team to an 8-4 record in his first season with them, as well as an appearance against the Miami Redhawks at Ford Field in Detroit, where they lost 26-21.

McElwain was named Mid American Conference Coach of the Year on December 4, 2019 and Central Michigan accepted an invitation to play in the New Mexico Bowl against the San Diego State Aztecs, which CMU will lose by a score of 41-11.

McElwain announced that he would return to Central Michigan for the 2020 season a few days after the 2019 season came to an end. Due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Chippewas operated on a conference-only schedule in 2020. CMU won by 3-3 over Eastern Michigan, including a victory over rival Eastern Michigan.

McElwain and Central Michigan will record their 9-4 record in the 2021 season. They were co-champions of the MAC West division, but they would miss the tiebreaker to Northern Illinois, who defeated the Chippewas 39-38 earlier in the season. Central Michigan defeated Washington State 24-21 in the Sun Bowl.

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