Should anyone have any lingering doubts how ex-Florida coach Jim MCElwain could guide UF to two consecutive SEC EAST titles and yet get fired the very next season you only have to look at his poor mishandling of future NFL first round Qb Will Grier: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-football-starting-quarterback-rankings-2018 Qb is a position that continues to haunt the Gators.... and no doubt that Grier would have elevated the entire team and probably saved McElwain's job as well. He's that good.....
Yeah you have to wonder what Spurrier or Meyer would have done with that same situation. Grier is a rising star in the college football world, and lkely high 1st round draft choice.
One of those deals Terry where maybe it's better anyway.... I think Mullen has a chance to restore UF to prominence. MCElwain? Probably not.... Can't for the life of me understand Harbaugh hiring him to coach receivers at Michigan.... I mean UF failed miserably twice under McElawain to mount any sort of an offense and I am sure poor route running was one of the causes. :shock:
I don’t see anything in that article that indicates McElwain mishandled the situation. One story I read on Gatorcountry is that Grier’s father demanded that Grier be guaranteed that His son would get the job back after his suspension. Another story was that Coach told him he should move on. I am not sure what is true and we could for sure use a QB of his talent. But to say Coach mishandled it sounds a lot like claiming that because of his talent not the circumstances that really happened. But of course if you have other information I would love to hear it.
Meyer did let Cam Newton get away but Cam's offenses were a tad more serious.... but still not worthy of getting kicked out of UF.... Unless you have a diamond on the bench like Saban always seem to have at Bama you don't eff with Will Grier and his father because your ego gets in the way. I just suspect that MCElwain would still be at Florida if he didn't have some serious personality issues clouding his judgement.
So because he was talented you would have let Grier and/or his father dictate their terms? I remember also that after he was suspended Grier disappeared from his teammates. And I agree with you about McElwain and his faults and how much better we are with Mullen. So look at it this way if Grier had stuck around MAC would probably still be our coach.
It always seemed to me that Grier was a drop back qb with a spread offense. It's like Florida was trying to recreate the Tebow offense.
Bill, I don't know about West Va. The problem seemed to me to be that the offensive line was recruited to protect a spread type offense, the running backs were recruited to execute a spread type offense, and the quarterback was a very good drop back passer. It just seemed like a mismatch, but I will admit that I did not follow Florida's program in detail so it was just an feeling I had when I watched them play. 8)
As a true freshman Grier hooked up with another problem child... Antonio Callaway for maybe one of the most electric game winning plays I have ever seen at UF in person.... the long play that beat Tenn. in 2015. Then again I was present as Feliepe Franks hit the hail Mary last year to also beat Tenn at the end of the game. In any event Grier can stand in the pocket and hit the long ones accurately all across the field. He's a top notch NFL prospect. And he along with his offensive teammantes at UF were Mucschamp recruits. Not a lot of spread with Muschamp's offenses..... mostly just safe pro style plays that never were deisgned to get the almighty defense in any trouble.... but weren't designed also to light up the scoreboard much.