Former Florida Football coach Jim McElwain retires with a complicated coaching legacy

Former Florida Football and current Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain is planning on retiring, according to CBS Sports. McElwain's coaching career spanned almost 40 years and culminated with a two-and-a-half-year stint in Gainesville before a six-year run with Central Michigan.

McElwain's time with Florida was one of great achievement but also a bottom that fell out in a heartbeat. Combined with his connection with the Connor Stalions investigation, McElwain's legacy in college football will be a complicated one.

Florida Football: Baby shark

McElwain took over for Will Muschamp heading into the 2015 campaign and had instant success. His win over the #3 Ole Miss with Will Grier as the quarterback is still one of the great "what if" moments of recent Gator lore. Grier tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended for a year.

With Treon Harris under center, Florida would go on to lose to LSU, beat Georgia, then slogged past Vanderbilt and Florida Atlantic. The Gators had an outside shot of a playoff bid heading into their season finale against FSU, but were lifeless on offense. That theme repeated against Alabama in the SEC title game before Florida was blown out by Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.

Grier transferred after the season, in part because of McElwain, but Florida started out 2016 6-1, including another win over Georgia. The problem was that the one loss was to Tennessee, the first loss to the Volunteers in 11 years.

A loss to Arkansas really soured things, but McElwain was at the helm for the famous goal line stand against LSU that sent Florida to the SEC title game.

Once again, Florida lost to FSU and was blown out by Alabama to close out the regular season.

This set the stage for a chaotic 2017 campaign that featured a Feleipe Franks Hail Mary but also had back-to-back losses to LSU and Texas A&M heading into the bye week.

Almost overnight, he felt like everything officially went south as McElwain claimed there were death threats made against him but couldn't provide the university proof of such threats. After losing to Georgia 42-7, he was fired, and the Gators would finish 2017 with a 4-8 record.

But as one list positive parting gift, McElwain had signed in the class of 2016 a virtually unknown three-star QB who was ranked 2065th in the 247 Talent Composite. As the story unfolded, Kyle Trask would go on to have Florida on the doorstep of a national title in 2020 before someone else decided to throw a shoe.

But McElwain's complicated legacy didn't end once he left Gainesville. After one year as the wide receiver's coach at Michigan, he took the head coaching job at Central Michigan. His record with the Chippewas was up and down, but in 2023, against Michigan State, it was revealed that Connor Stalions was on the sidelines for CMU.

That is, of course, the same Connor Stalions front and center of the Michigan spying scandal.

Specifically, as it relates to Florida, McElwain will be remembered as a coach who had instant success but quickly felt like a gatekeeper within the SEC and never quite meshed with the culture in Gainesville.

He did leave Dan Mullen a useable roster to build off of, and if McElwain had just ever had his offense match what the defense did at times, his stay in Gainesville might have been longer.