February 15th, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
I get what you are saying, and I do not disagree with you, but even if I was in the public eye, and I am not any longer, I am not so sure I would want to see my face reapeatedly on a body copulating with a shark. Just saying.
It was easier to laugh at when he was Florida's guy, but he's now our guy, so perhaps let's move on?
February 15th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
Fair enough. Give it some time, it will fade away. Or the Jimmy Johns guy just has to get back into the news cycle again and all the shark stuff will get re-directed to him.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Announcers next year are going to point out that he also did a 3 year stint as Michigan State's OC from 2003-2005 before he jumped ship for the NFL. I'm sure its not lost over at RCMB.
I don't know that anyone mentioned that here. While it was a crappy coaching group, he left early and went on to have more success, so I don't think he was regarded as the problem there. If you were excited about Enos you should probably be more excited about McElwain.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
Is he going to bring this play with him?
Now that's an OL that likes to block.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
As someone who lives in Gainesville and keeps up with the gators I know exactly how this guy feels.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
not friends
February 15th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
More smart people is good. I like Harbaugh's offensive approach when it's got more experience and a functional or better quarterback. The first two years Michigan had both and the improvement was drastic from the Hoke cratering. Last year it didn't have either experience or a quarterback for 3/4 of the season.
Look at these offseason changes. Better recruiters brought in. Then a proven OC to also work directly with the WR. New S & C coach to address the apparent fizzling out in the 4th quarter in certain games.
Another year older all over the field plus a likely 5-star recruit QB with a record of production in the SEC.
On paper and in theory, very productive offseason.
Team will go as far as the trench guys and QB will carry it. Like basically every other team.
February 15th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
Once the Urban Meyer was flushed out of Florida, Muschamp's last two offenses were 100th and 74th in S&P+. McElwain's two complete seasons were 73 and 88.
At Colorado State, they were 112 and 88th in S&P+ the two years before McElwain. His three years they went from 111 to 74 to 33. CSU was 66th the year after he left.
At Alabama, Saban had his best offenses in 3 of the 4 years he had with McElwain. In McElwain's first year, Saban's second, the offense went from 71st to 15th. The three seasons following, McElwain coordinated offenses never finished worse than 6th in Offensive S&P+.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:18 AM ^
is he made meyer have those heart problems? Sounds like the timeline matches up.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
2016 Florida finished 12th and 2017 they were 11th.
February 15th, 2018 at 12:03 PM ^
The logic is something like this: He seemed to do ok while at FL, but as soon as he is hired here, what he did in FL is retrospectively not good enough.
One thing is for sure - he does not appear to be a worse recruiter than Jim Harbaugh. Which doesnt mean much, other than, if you call McElwain a bad recruiter, then Harbaugh is as well. They have been on about the same level.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
Those classes were *awful* compared to what a good recruiter would have achieved.
His 2016 class has sixteen 3*, nine 4*, and zero 5*. His 2017 class had eleven 3*, eleven 4*, and zero 5*. Neither class cracked the 90 point average player barrier.
That's at the University of Florida, a school with built-in recruiting advantages that Michigan couldn't even dream of having.
That's basically the low-bar for what you can expect at UF. You could put the names of all Divsion II coaches in a hat, draw one at random, make them head coach at UF, and expect to get a class of slightly more 3* than 4* players with an average player rating of 89.5.
Seriously, those classes are prime exibhits A and B for what an unimpressive recruiter he is.
February 15th, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
I hadn't seen the picture until just now and always thought it was McElwain in it. Like I was picturing him in swim trunks hugging it or something.
I guess now I don't get why it's always brought up now if it wasn't him. I mean I guess I get it. It's not making me laugh, but I get it.
February 15th, 2018 at 5:32 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
I fully admit I'm not tuned in to the hottest talent in D-1 coaching ranks but I'm not all that excited by this hire and just hope Harbaugh knows what he's doing. It certainly does seem a bit out of the blue and I'm not convinced McElwain will be able to mako of our offensive woes go away. There certainly are some pieces to work with in Shea Patterson, the hammerhead rushing style of Higdon and our corps of young wideouts. Hopefully he can make lemonade out of a lemon - it won't hurt to have a lot of other great white coaches on the defensive side like Don Brown to give the offense some breathing room as it finds its footing. Offensive improvement will be the key to whether we nurse a hangover on New Years or find ourselves basking in our newfound glory.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:33 PM ^
The only edit I'd make (and you can't now...) is replacing "corps of young wideouts" with 'school of ...'. Otherwise, nicely done!
February 15th, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
He can help the WRs, he can help the O, he can recruit. Was he a good head coach? Not even close, but just because he's a bad HC, doesn't mean he's a bad hire.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
February 15th, 2018 at 3:03 PM ^
is muddied at best.
OC at Bama, full of 5 stars and with one of the country's best defenses year in year out?
The people who have followed florida closely think this is underwhelming.
Contrast this with the Don Brown hire. Literally the best DC in the business.
Is Jim McSharkhumper considered the best OC in the countr?, # 2? # 10, #50?
This actually smells a bit desperate to me.
February 15th, 2018 at 5:51 PM ^
Small caveat: His offenses at Alabama were outstanding before they were a team full of five stars. Bama had solid recruiting classes before Saban, but nothing like today.
Bama recruiting classes:
2004: #15
2005: #18
2006: #11
2007: #10 - Saban hired
2008: #1 - McElwain hired
February 15th, 2018 at 9:05 PM ^
Perhaps you should familiarize yourself with McElwain's work at Colorado State. Took the Rams from 114th in offensive S&P to 33rd in his 3rd and final season. It was well known that JM didn't take kindly to Saban's restrictions on his offense and he wanted to show what he could do unshacked in Colorado. It worked and they were a fun O to watch at the end.
February 16th, 2018 at 12:24 AM ^
Also worth noting that it was a spread offense unless my eyes were mistaking me when I was looking at highlights. Over 300 passing yards/game.
February 15th, 2018 at 1:45 PM ^
Hide Yo Sharks, Hide Yo Elasmobranchii!!
February 15th, 2018 at 1:51 PM ^
Just getting to this thread. I scrolled down until I saw the Michigan football helmet avatar and a shit load of upvotes. Happy with this hire.
February 15th, 2018 at 3:40 PM ^
"Mac and Blondie Mombo3 barbecue sauce [is] a creation of McElwain, who is known in his family and among friends for his skill on the grill" (Florida Times-Union).
February 15th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
I guess Scott Fuchs is no longer a candidate.
February 15th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
this hire should be a giant upgrade for those young guys. JM has a reputation as a very demanding position coach that gets results. Have to think with Shea at QB and the WRs taking a big step-up in development, our offensive performance is going to be much better for 2018. Also, I think with Drevno focused only on the OL that is going to make spring and fall camp much better for development. He has a track record at USC of getting redshirt frosh ready to be starters and in my opinion that is really important for both 2018 and 2019.
The totality of the changes appears effective. They will all need to check their egos at the door, but if that can happen the potential improvement could be tremendous.
February 15th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^
Let's just hope that, given McElwain's influence, what Harbaugh shows us this year is fully-clothed, fully-human, fully-consensual, and fully-nonsexual.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:39 AM ^
Until Jim Harbaugh can put aside his loyalty to Pep Hamilton and Tim Drevno there will be issues with his offense. They aren't doing much for the program except eating up massive salaries.
Those of us who followed his Stanford days know full well that the big reason the Michigan offense isn't looking like the 2008-09-10 Stanford offense has a lot to do with the guy who was calling the offense for Stanford. David Shaw was the guy who made that offense go. Shaw continued to call the offense even after becoming HC. Jim Harbaugh is a very talented coach but he really built his reputation with a head coach in waiting running his offense. There isn't a coach on the Michigan offensive staff with Shaw's talent.
Pep Hamilton and Tim Drevno weren't missed for long when they left Stanford. Drevno was replaced by Mike Bloomgren and the Stanford OL took it to another level. Pep rode Andrew Luck's coattails to the NFL and he got exposed as something less than a whiz in the booth. Stanford fans knew Hamilton was fool's gold but no one took our word for it.
McElwain and Warriner are better choices. Warriner is a great OL coach. Lousy OC, don't let him call plays, but he can fix the OL problems. McElwain is a good choice because he won't be as subordinate to Jim Harbaugh as Pep and Drevno. For that matter, McElwain has coached for an even more intense HC so he is likely used to being screamed at by a mad man.
The problem Michigan faces in the Big Ten East is three defenses who run deep enough to counteract the core goal of Harbaugh's offensive philosophy which is to pound a defense into submission by running it 40-45 times and popping a few play action passes for big hitters. Even if he develops an elite OL and finds an elite QB, it is a much tougher road than anything he faced at Stanford. The PAC doesn't play much defense.