In December 2014, Florida hired away Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain. A former Alabama offensive coordinator, McElwain was the proprietor of one of the country’s best offenses at CSU. In 2014, the Rams’ 7.1 yards per play were fourth-most in the country.
Florida’s still paying CSU for Jim McElwain, including huge $$$ for their 2018 game
The Gators agreed to pay CSU $7 million for Jim McElwain, including a $2 million game contract for 2018’s Week 3.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Colorado State didn’t give up its coach easily.
The Rams knew the Gators badly wanted McElwain after years of ugly offense under Will Muschamp, and because McElwain was under contract for three more years, CSU had leverage. The Rams had just negotiated an extension for McElwain the previous summer, including heavy buyout language. It was supposed to cost $7.5 million for another school to hire away the Rams’ head coach.
To get McElwain, the Gators had to give Colorado State two big things, one of which pays off in Week 3 of 2018.
- A fat buyout. Florida paid Colorado State $5 million in cash to buy out the rest of McElwain’s contract. CSU boasted in a press release that this was “largest such buyout in college football history.”
- A game! Specifically, the one in Week 3 of 2018. Florida AD Jeremy Foley agreed the Gators would host the Rams and pay them a $2 million guarantee. That’s a massive amount even by the standards of mid-major visits to Power 5 schools. It’s definitely one of the handful of highest amounts ever, at least. The standard is somewhere in the broad range from $300,000 to a little more than a $1 million.
All told, the Rams framed McElwain’s buyout as $7 million — a game-changing sum for a mid-major program.
They gave in on just $500,000 of the $7.5 million they could’ve pushed the Gators to give them.
Florida had appeared to be under the impression Colorado State wasn’t going to hold firm on the buyout language in McElwain’s contract. UF’s courtship of McElwain became a weird public spectacle, with reporters camped outside McElwain’s house while the Gators pressed inside to get a deal done.
Many interpreted Florida’s actions there as a deliberate attempt to force Colorado State’s hand into allowing a lower buyout. How could McElwain stay in Fort Collins and recruit after it was so clear he entertained leaving? In that case, CSU called the Gators’ bluff.
The Rams became the big winners of the McElwain-Florida relationship.
The McElwain buyout came right around the time the NCAA was making it legal for schools to pay cost-of-attendance stipends to athletes on top of their scholarships. The Rams decided to use their newfound McElwain money to budget out those stipends:
In total, the stipend is expected to cost CSU $654,000 for its allotment of 214.1 scholarships.
Where is CSU, with an athletic budget that ranks in the bottom half of the Mountain West, coming up with this extra funding?
The $7 million buyout the University of Florida is paying CSU over the next six years for hiring away McElwain back in December. Athletic director Joe Parker told the Coloradoan he expects McElwain’s buyout to cover cost of attendance at CSU for the next three-to-five years. Beyond that, the school will look at other revenue streams to help the funding, including ticket sales and donations, but no future plan is set in stone.
To replace McElwain, CSU hired Mike Bobo, the longtime Georgia offensive coordinator under Mark Richt. The program has remained pretty steady since McElwain left, making three bowls in three years.
CSU opened up a gorgeous stadium in 2017, and there’s no reason the Rams can’t be a frequent Mountain West contender on their current track.
Meanwhile, Florida’s already had to spend more money ... on a coach to replace McElwain.
His teams won a bad SEC East twice and got rolled by Alabama in SEC Championship Games. The Gators fired him in 2017, after a 3-4 start and the school’s apparent disbelief at a McElwain suggestion that he, his family, and others in the program had faced death threats amid Florida’s on-field struggles.
The ex-Florida coach has settled in as Michigan’s receivers coach.
The teams’ 2018 game doesn’t completely wrap Florida’s obligations to CSU, even now that the Gators’ administration has turned over.
Dan Mullen is in McElwain’s chair, and Mullen’s old boss at Mississippi State, Scott Stricklin, took Foley’s job after the longtime AD retired in 2016. But the Gators will continue to pay the Rams their McElwain money for a little longer following this game.
UF agreed to pay the cash portion of the McElwain buyout in installments over six years, so the Gators are slated to be paying up through about 2020.
CSU could lose by 12 touchdowns on Saturday. It would have still gotten the better of the team on the other sideline.
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