Jim McElwain
Jim McElwain went 77–64 as a head coach, 2012–2024, at Colorado State, Florida and Central Michigan. Share
- Record
- 77–64 career
- Seasons
- 12
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Mar 1, 1962
- Alma mater
- Eastern Washington
- Best season
- 2016 9–4, No. 14
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Colorado State | 4–8 | T–6th | |||
| 2013 | Colorado State | 8–6 | 3rd (Mountain) | New Mexico Bowl W | ||
| 2014 | Colorado State | 10–2 | T–2nd (Mountain) | Las Vegas (not coached) | ||
| 2015 | Florida | 10–4 | 1st (Eastern) | Citrus Bowl L | 25 | |
| 2016 | Florida | 9–4 | 1st (Eastern) | Outback Bowl W | 14 | |
| 2017 | Florida coached seven of 11 games | 3–4 | ||||
| 2018: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2019 | Central Michigan | 8–6 | 1st (West) | New Mexico Bowl L | ||
| 2020 | Central Michigan | 3–3 | 4th (West) | |||
| 2021 | Central Michigan | 9–4 | T–1st (West) | Sun Bowl W | ||
| 2022 | Central Michigan | 4–8 | T–4th | |||
| 2023 | Central Michigan | 5–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2024 | Central Michigan | 4–8 | T–9th | |||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Jarrad DavisNo. 21 pick, 2017- Taven BryanNo. 29 pick, 2018
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 19 | 4–15 | 21% |
| Against top-10 teams | 7 | 1–6 | 14% |
| Against rivals | 37 | 19–18 | 51% |
| Conference games | 92 | 53–39 | 58% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 3–2 | 60% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 51 | 34–17 | 67% |
| At home | 65 | 47–18 | 72% |
| On the road | 59 | 22–37 | 37% |
| At neutral sites | 17 | 8–9 | 47% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 77 | 59–18 | 77% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 64 | 18–46 | 28% |
His own 141 games on file, 2012–2024, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Creighton 2019–2024 | 4–2 | Eastern Michigan | 6 | |
| Thomas Hammock 2019–2024 | 4–2 | Northern Illinois | 6 | |
| Mike Neu 2019–2024 | 3–3 | Ball State | 6 | |
| Jason Candle 2019–2024 | 2–4 | Toledo | 6 | |
| Mike MacIntyre 2012–2024 | 1–3 | San José State, Colorado, Florida International | 4 | |
| Tim Lester 2019–2022 | 1–3 | Western Michigan | 4 | |
| Bob Davie 2012–2014 | 3–0 | New Mexico | 3 | |
| Norm Chow 2012–2014 | 3–0 | Hawai’i | 3 | |
| Derek Mason 2015–2017 | 3–0 | Vanderbilt | 3 | |
| Mark Stoops 2015–2017 | 3–0 | Kentucky | 3 |
Jim McElwain’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Michiganseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Northern Illinoisseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Ball Stateseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Toledoseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Western Michiganseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Ohioseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| LSUseries | 4 | 1–3 |
| Hawai’iseries | 3 | 3–0 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Alabama’s 2009 staff (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks) · the staff · source
- Won a national title on Alabama’s 2011 staff (offensive coordinator, quarterbacks, part of the season) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
- Hired by Florida for the 2015 season from Colorado State, where he was head coach.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86 | Eastern Washington | Graduate assistant | |
| 1987–94 | Eastern Washington | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| 1995–99 | Montana State | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| 2000–02 | Louisville | Wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| 2003–05 | Michigan State | Assistant head coach and wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| 2006 | Oakland Raiders NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2007 | Fresno State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2008–11 | Alabama | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2012–14 | Colorado State | Head coach | |
| 2015–17 | Florida | Head coach | |
| 2018 | Michigan | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2019–24 | Central Michigan | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Paul WulffEastern Washington
- John SmithLouisville, Michigan State
- Pat HillFresno State
- Nick SabanAlabama
- Jim HarbaughMichigan
Assistants who became head coaches
- Billy NapierLouisiana, Florida, James Madison
- Dave BaldwinSanta Barbara, Santa Rosa, Cal State Northridge, San José State, Colorado State
- Tim SkipperFresno State, UCLA, Cal Poly
- Geoff CollinsTemple, Georgia Tech
- Randy ShannonMiami, Florida
- Brad DavisLSU
- Robb AkeyIdaho, Oregon State
- Ryan BeardMissouri State, Coastal Carolina
- Paul PetrinoIdaho
- Tom MasonBoise State
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Wulff | Eastern Washington | 1993 | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| John Smith | Louisville | 2000–02 | Wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| John Smith | Michigan State | 2003–05 | Assistant head coach and wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| Pat Hill | Fresno State | 2007 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Nick Saban | Alabama | 2008–11 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Jim Harbaugh | Michigan | 2018 | Wide receivers coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (10)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billy Napier | Colorado State, 2012: assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach | Louisiana, Florida, James Madison | |
| Dave Baldwin | Colorado State, 2012: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach; 2013: offensive coordinator | Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Cal State Northridge, San José State, Colorado State | |
| Tim Skipper | Colorado State, 2012–13: linebackers coach; 2013–14: assistant head coach and linebackers coach; Florida, 2015–16: running backs coach; 2017: linebackers coach; Central Michigan, 2020: linebackers coach; 2021: assistant head coach and linebackers coach | Fresno State, UCLA, Cal Poly | |
| Geoff Collins | Florida, 2015–16: defensive coordinator | Temple, Georgia Tech | |
| Randy Shannon | Florida, 2015–16: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2017: defensive coordinator | Miami, Florida | |
| Brad Davis | Florida, 2017: offensive line coach | LSU | |
| Robb Akey | Florida, 2017: defensive assistant; 2017: interim defensive line; Central Michigan, 2019–24: defensive coordinator | Idaho, Oregon State | |
| Ryan Beard | Central Michigan, 2019: special teams and safeties coach | Missouri State, Coastal Carolina | |
| Paul Petrino | Central Michigan, 2022–23: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Idaho | |
| Tom Mason | Central Michigan, 2022–24: linebackers coach | Boise State |
Other assistants under him (12)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Al Simmons | Colorado State, 2012–14: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Marty English | Colorado State, 2012–14: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Rob Ezell | Colorado State, 2012–14: graduate assistant | |
| Dave Baldwin | Colorado State, 2014: offensive coordinator | |
| Kevin Barbay | Colorado State, 2014: director of player personnel; Florida, 2015–17: DPD; Central Michigan, 2019–20: assistant head coach and wide receivers coach; 2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Chris Rumph | Florida, 2015–16: defensive line coach; 2017: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Doug Nussmeier | Florida, 2015–17: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| John Van Dam | Florida, 2015: offensive quality control assistant and assistant quarterbacks coach | |
| Marquel Blackwell | Florida, 2015: QCS | |
| Bret Ingalls | Florida, 2016–17: offensive assistant | |
| Charlie Frye | Florida, 2016–17: director of player development; Central Michigan, 2019–20: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Ja’Juan Seider | Florida, 2017: running backs coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Florida | head coachbonuses up to $925,000; $300,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $12,916,668 | $4,457,400 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Florida | head coachbonuses up to $450,000; $100,000 in bonuses paid | $4,268,325 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Florida | head coachbonuses up to $450,000 | $3,983,359 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Colorado State | head coachbonuses up to $150,000 | $1,500,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
McElwain’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 41% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 24.9 seconds a play, 2012–2024.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 11 g | Colorado State | 19 of 83 23% | 37% | 50% | 21.8 | −0.09 | |
| 2013 14 g | Colorado State | 24 of 118 20% | 40% | 46% | 20.4 | +0.12 | |
| 2014 12 g | Colorado State | 14 of 77 18% | 39% | 55% | 25.0 | +0.15 | |
| 2015 14 g | Florida | 27 of 126 21% | 44% | 49% | 28.0 | −0.08 | |
| 2016 13 g | Florida | 14 of 102 14% | 25% | 51% | 27.4 | −0.10 | |
| 2019 14 g | Central Michigan | 31 of 105 30% | 42% | 50% | 24.8 | +0.03 | |
| 2020 6 g | Central Michigan | 19 of 59 32% | 46% | 43% | 23.6 | +0.07 | |
| 2021 12 g | Central Michigan | 26 of 99 26% | 40% | 47% | 24.4 | +0.10 | |
| 2022 11 g | Central Michigan | 32 of 95 34% | 52% | 53% | 23.5 | −0.01 | |
| 2023 12 g | Central Michigan | 23 of 103 22% | 43% | 46% | 26.6 | −0.02 | |
| 2024 11 g | Central Michigan | 23 of 94 24% | 41% | 43% | 27.3 | −0.08 | |
| All 130 g | 252 of 1061 24% | 41% | 49% | 24.9 | +0.01 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.