Florida Football: Gators part ways with McElwain after brief tenure

The Florida Gators fired Jim McElwain in his third season as head coach after he won the SEC East in back to back seasons.

The Florida Gators fired Jim McElwain on Sunday. This was just his third season as head coach.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN reported that Florida asked the coach to accept less than the $12.76 million buyout.

McElwain had early success at Florida. He won the SEC East division in his first two seasons with the Gators. He had an overall record of 22-12, and was 16-8 in the SEC.

Despite winning in the SEC East, the Gators’ offense has struggled under McElwain. Florida is ranked 110th in the FBS in points per game.

The Gators have not had an explosive offense since before Urban Meyer left the team after the 2010 season. Florida fans expected McElwain to restore the offense to its former glory.

In McElwain’s press conference following a 42-7 loss to rival Georgia, he admitted he had not lived up to expectations.

McElwain also stirred up controversy this past week when he claimed to have received death threats from fans without providing any evidence that these claims were true.

Discipline issues have also affected the Gators. Florida suspended nine players who have been facing felony charges for credit card fraud. Seven will enter a pretrial intervention program while the other two are still under investigation according to the Associated Press.

Jim McElwain is not the only coach to face pressure to compete with the SEC’s most dominate teams.

McElwain is not the only SEC coach who has been on the hot seat this year. Tennessee’s Butch Jones and Arkansas’ Bret Beilema are likely to be gone by the end of the season. Kevin Sumlin has also received a lot of criticism for Texas A&M’s record over the last few seasons.

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With Alabama’s dominance under Nick Saban it has been difficult for other teams to be competitive in the SEC. There have been many coaching changes throughout the SEC since the Alabama dynasty began. Saban’s former defensive coordinator Kirby Smart seems to be quickly building a similar team at Georgia. Both teams will most likely receive top 4 rankings when the College Football Playoff committee reveals the initial standings this week.

Whoever the Gators hire to replace McElwain will not have it any easier when comes to competing with the dominance of the top two teams in the SEC.