The Post Where We Admit That Michigan Has In Fact Hired Jim McElwain
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good offensin' [Chris Cook]
So Michigan just hired Jim McElwain to coach football in some capacity. That capacity is apparently offensive coordinator and WR coach. This doesn't make much sense to me. McElwain becomes Michigan's fourth offensive coordinator, more or less, along with Harbaugh, Drevno, and Hamilton. He may be second amongst equals, for whatever that's worth.
McElwain was a notoriously bad recruiter at Florida, failing to crack the top ten once during his tenure and finishing no better than fifth in the SEC, and that was with a steady stream of Questionable Dudes that came highly rated but had seen various other teams back off. Those questionable dudes saw their super powers combine into a credit card scam that got a tenth of the team suspended last year. If you were to go back and re-rank recruiting classes by removing confirmed knuckleheads, Florida would plummet towards the nether reaches of the SEC.
Meanwhile, McElwain had a public meltdown about an internet joke, twice, made an unsupported assertion he had received death threats that almost got him fired for cause, and marketed his own barbecue sauce in the midst of a disastrous, tenure-ending football season.
Whatever offensive aptitudes he seemed to demonstrate at Alabama and Colorado State evaporated in a haze of ineptitude in Florida. Spencer Hall:
Statistically, Jim McElwain turned 2017 Florida into 2017 Rutgers. There is no evidence McElwain or the offensive staff can develop a quarterback or build an offensive line or tell a wideout how to run a route. There’s actually less and less evidence the offense is even designed competently. The big highlight—maybe the only real morbid but funny highlight, really—of watching Gary Danielson this season call a long string of SEC blowouts has been him literally correcting play design for Florida on the screen. He does this when not openly laughing at false starts and procedural penalties. It’s a full to-do list when watching Florida football, and just getting through half of it should earn him an Emmy.
Yours truly surveying the devastation after the opener:
Watch Florida left tackle Martez Ivey start yelling at the left guard on the Furbush touchdown before the play is even over:
You! Come over here! I know you're in the middle of a football play, but look upon the destruction your incompetence has wrought! Feel in your very bones the touchdown you have given up and shall never recover from! Eat at Arby's!
Also here is Florida's quarterback getting hammered on a rollout that Michigan rushed three on.
That's some dystopian business right there, and we should slow our roll a little given the evident dysfunction of the opponent. How much? I don't know.
McElwain doing well at Alabama proves little; having a decent offense at Colorado State because five-star Dee Hart needed a landing spot and rushed for 6.6 YPC doesn't prove a whole lot more. What success Florida did have under McElwain was an artifact of a trash SEC East and a defense he inherited from Will Muschamp.
On the positive side, McElwain does have a lengthy tenure as a collegiate WR coach stretching from 1987 to 2005, with the odd QB or special teams duty thrown in. And he probably has some great stories about John L Smith, who he coached under for five years at Louisville and Michigan State.
The best thing about this hire is that it doesn't really matter since it's Harbaugh's offense anyway. While McElwain comes in with a very Greg Robinson track record—aging successes and recent debacles paired with press interactions that make him seem slightly insane—he's not going to be put in charge of half the team and subsequently told to run something he's completely unfamiliar with. But neither is he likely to move the needle in recruiting or help organize the team. He'll seem like a brilliant WR coach because Michigan's WRs are about to get a lot better by virtue of not being freshmen, in the same way Ron English was a god until he wasn't.
Maybe once released from the prison of being a head coach he's actually a good offensive coordinator—but Michigan doesn't need tactical help. They need someone who can throw a ball straight and an offensive line that doesn't get that guy and his backup murdered. They do need a skill position coach and McElwain sort of fits there. He seems more like a duplicate of a duplicate, and he is very hard to take seriously after his year of baffling press conferences and Keystone Kops coaching.
He's a tenth assistant, and therefore more of a missed opportunity than a burgeoning disaster. And since every other thing with a track record immediately defies it when it arrives to do Michigan football things (except Don Brown, God bless Don Brown), maybe he'll be brilliant.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:39 PM ^
Yeah, I get that Dee Hart was someone Michigan fans know about, but it astounds me that anyone would assume a RB who was there for a single year accounted for the sum total of McElwain's success at CSU. And as another poster noted yesterday, Alabama's offensive talent when he was there weren't titans; he made guys like AJ McCarron and Greg McElroy look like NFL draftees, something they haven't accomplished since.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:55 PM ^
While there are several, the Dee Hart thing is perhaps one of the biggest glaring holes in Brian's argument.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
Also, the bit about hsi recruiting is a bit unfair as well. I don't honestly know about the histories of the guys he recruited before they came to Florida, but it's weird to see Brian assume they were all known knuckleheads when he vehemently (rightfully) defended Demar Dorsey when guys like Drew Sharp attacked his recruiting because of past transgressions.
Again, and I feel this needs to be repeated constantly, McElwain is not the head coach. He's a WR coach who will help out with the playcalling in some undefined capacity. I would honestly take his track record over Dan Enos.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:34 PM ^
which is something very badly needed. Unless you want to keep a Grad Assistant in that capacity? Good lord
February 16th, 2018 at 3:01 PM ^
Who says he's actually coaching them? Pep had "WR coach" in his title last year too and he didn't coach them at all.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
Wow. That just depressed me a little. I don't actually agree with the take but reading that just brought me down. Hopefully, this hire far exceeds your expectations Brian.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 2:36 PM ^
McElwain doing well at Alabama proves little; having a decent offense at Colorado State because five-star Dee Hart needed a landing spot and rushed for 6.6 YPC doesn't prove a whole lot more.
So yeah, I'm going to disagree with Brian on this.
I get that he's not the most inspiring hire (though for the life of me people are dying on the hill of Dan fucking Enos right now), but this revisionist history about his offenses before Florida needs to die in a fire.
From 2012 to 2014 at CSU, their ranking in total offense was 102nd (2012), 24th (2013), and 19th (2014). Per S&P, over that same span it was 111th, 74th, and 33rd. Dee Hart was there for 2014, but even then they were still a team that threw for 4000 yards.
Brian, I get you are unhappy with this hire. You seem generally unhappy with the football team, which is your right. But I come here for insightful analysis, not "this guy made up a story to get some sympathy and tries to sell shit while as a coach" as the basis for thinking a guy is bad at the job he is hired to do. He is not Michigan's football coach; he's probabkly not even going to be the single OC. He's a guy who has coached WRs before in college and got Greg Fucking McElroy drafted after putting up 71% completion percentage at 9.5 ypa and a 20:5 TD to INT ratio. Sure, he's not the sole guy there, but if one of the needs of this team is "a guy who can throw the ball straight", this doesn't seem like a bad crack at it.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
The guy had success. He was a successful WR coach for a long time. He moved up to QBs and OC. He moved up from there to the Bama gig. From there to a HC. He didn't work out at Florida. It's hard to say what all the problems were at Florida without being in the details. I know I don't see a roll out on 3rd and long that gets pressured from a 3-man front to really tell me much about his opinion on play calling or on his ability to coach WRs, where he's previously had success.
I don't think this is a slam dunk hire. I agree with Brian that it's generally pretty unispiring from a recruiting standpoint (and often times WR coaches are primary recruiters). But as a position coach, as a guy that can control the play calling duties of the offense and let some others focus more individually on their units, it's a fine hire. It can help get Michigan's offense back on track. And I'm a little tired of everyone always wanting the splashy hire. The young up and comer. The innovative coach. Those things are good if they produce the best coach. But that's what I'm focused on, getting the best coach for the position he is being asked to fill for the best of the program as a whole. I think Harbaugh has an idea or two about what went wrong with the offense, and I think he made this hire with that knowledge in mind.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
I can buy into McElwain as OC/WR and even Drevno with a much greater concentration on OL. But, where I struggle is with Pep. Seems Pep is a guy you could let go and bring in someone else to help coach the qbs alongside Harbaugh with the Pep replacement being a recruiting dynamo. Seems like that would be a pretty big improvemen as you could probably be about even from a coaching standpoint and well ahead in recruiting (if accounts of Pep's recruiting acumen, or more accurately lack thereof, are at all accurate).
February 16th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
Yeah, I agree he's not going to be a great recruiter, and at WR it doesn't hurt to have a guy who can get into homes and sign kids. But I doubt he's the train wreck that some people are calling him, and honestly, after seeing how bad the receiving corp was last year, I'll trade in a year or two of mediocre recruiting from one of the 10 spots on my staff (because it's unlikely he'd stay beyond a couple of years if he's good) for a guy who can coach the kids he's got into solid players.
And I agree that the young hot-shot coaches are fine, but Michigan also needs guys who can actually coach the players they have and be successful. Not to crap on DJ Durkin, but he was the hot-shot DC who was here for a year, did...fine...and then left and was replaced with grizzled cop Don Brown, who really pushed this defense to a new level. And Durkin, for all his recruiting strengths and young pedigree, hasn't had particularly inspiring defenses at Maryland. I don't think McElwain is anywhere close to Brown as a coach, but like you said, he didn't get promoted because he was a fun guy to hang out with. He's a fine hire, and I don't care anymore how "inspiring" a hire is on whatever undefined metric is used to measure such things.
February 16th, 2018 at 5:32 PM ^
We should bring in more splashy, young, innovative coaches that can recruit like Don Brown, Mike Zordich and Greg Mattison.
Or I guess this only works on offense?
February 16th, 2018 at 2:52 PM ^
Agreed. What are your thoughts on McElwain and his inside zone preferences in a man blocking scheme?
February 16th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
If he's calling his playbook or Harbaugh's playbook. I have a feeling it's still Harbaugh's playbook, which prefers man/gap, but still utilizes a lot of Inside Zone. McElwain can work within that, based on the feedback from other coaches.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
I largely agree with SC above. I think the coaches say with Frey last year that you can't half-ass a blocking scheme with the current talent and experience, and my guess is that they'll favor man/gap blocking at least early on because it proved pretty effective.
I'm actually more interested in his impact on the passing game. Michigan really went away from stretching the field vertically toward the end of the year, and while that's part of the deal with injured QBs and bad offensive lines, I do think that they have guys on this team who can win those 50/50 balls downfield as well as just run past defenders. It'll be interesting to see if they go back to that approach. 2015 had the #8 passing offense per S&P, and a lot of that was because they were comfortable having Rudock throw the ball.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
Being a success at ‘Bama under Satan is not a slam dunk take on ability. There are reasons to believe that this is not likely the case (board topic from today) as the Sabin Death Star was not fully operational while JM was there.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
We have not had an OC with OC experience up to now. Jedd was a passing coordinator, and his contributions were actually good (passing game was great in year 1 and Ok in year 2), Pep and Drevno have no experience being OC. Having an OC with actual OC experience will make a difference.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:38 PM ^
God Bless Don Brown
February 16th, 2018 at 2:40 PM ^
I dislike the hire, but I remember liking the Pep hire when it originally happened, so what the hell do I know?
February 16th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
I was wrong about the Fisch hire, so while I don't think this hire amounts to much, I'd be happy to be wrong again.
And speaking of Fisch, we'd better keep anyone with that name the hell away from McElwain.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:13 PM ^
A shark is not a Fish! McElwain likes his creature comforts with a little more flexibility.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
I've seen more than one comment by opposing fans that Ed Warriner should be the OL coach. Even fans of other schools don't have faith in Drevno.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
OSU and MSU fans love Drevno.
February 17th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 3:11 PM ^
UM football makes, and spends, an obscene amount of money regardless of whether they stay or not. If it's decided it is clearly best for the football team to have fire Drevno and Hamilton, well then fire them. No excuses exist regarding money or resources.
Far more important to Michigan's bottom line (e.g., 110,000 butts in the seats; suites sold out) is having at 10 win and up football team, which will be a solid achievement next year with the nation's toughest schedule. Potentially "eating" $3 million a year is nothing in that context.
February 16th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
The whole "they don't want to eat the contracts" makes no sense to me either. By demoting them, you're overpaying them for their jobs, so in a sense you're already eating part of the contract. Further, you risk having a disgruntled employee.
February 16th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
But is overpaying them for a job worse than paying them not to work for you, and then paying someone else to do that job?
February 16th, 2018 at 2:46 PM ^
I hope Michigan's offense is gangbusters next season and Brian has to suck a giant debbie downer dick.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
I'd take an offensive line that doesn't get the starter and his backup and HIS backup and HIS backup murdered.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
Sucks that you drank the anti-Harbaugh kool aid, Brian. Oh well. Also, shark jokes should be a bannable offense moving forward.
February 16th, 2018 at 7:53 PM ^
How does this not have more upvotes?
February 16th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
Whatever McElwain ran at Florda should be a BANNABLE OFFENSE.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
Block and work the middle of the field. We will win games.
February 16th, 2018 at 2:58 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 2:59 PM ^
I don't think either of those interactions really qualify as meltdowns. I'd be prickly about that too, frankly. For reporters to keep asking and asking and asking and asking and asking and asking and asking..... and all because some asshole who kinda looks like you did something silly and put it on the Internet..... yeah, I'd probably be annoyed and lose my sense of humor about it too.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
There's something fishy about this hire.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
Yeah, this guy seems way low on integrity and success and way too high on dry-humping animals. Do not like this hire at all.
I wouldn't say I'm down on M football right now, but I'm as disinterested/unexcited as I've been since Carr left. We need real talent, not cast-offs and dudes (NOT the Mattison type Dude) that got fired by other programs.
Something just seems way amiss.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:04 PM ^
While this is not even remotely a slam dunk hire, having a WR coach is better than not having one at all. Maybe McElwain will do better in only having to focus on one area of the team.
Receivers only accounted for nine total TDs last year. Nine. Might as well give him a shot because it's not like it can get any worse.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:25 PM ^
I honestly can’t remember the TD passes to WRs after Black got hurt. I know DPJ scored and got it taken away somehow.
February 16th, 2018 at 3:46 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 3:05 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 4:05 PM ^
February 16th, 2018 at 4:11 PM ^
February 17th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
I just don't see where the negativity on this is coming from. Much of your criticism would only be applicable if McElwain was the head coach. He is not. The only legitimate criticism is of his recruiting ability. If McElwain can fix the offense and upgrade the passing game, then I'm willing to look past his lack of recruiting chops. There are plenty of coaches who are football geniuses and add a ton of value but can't recruit. Al Borges was a very good offensive coordinator (I continue to believe that Hoke unfairly threw him under the bus, and the fact that the offense completely imploded after he left proves that Borges was not the problem) but a total non-factor in recruiting, and yet he was a bright spot on Hoke's staff.
You seem to be going out of your way to dismiss McElwain's success at Alabama and Colorado State. McElwain was at Alabama at the beginning of Saban's tenure and helped lay the foundation for their remarkable run. It wasn't a Nussmeier situation where he came in after the machine had already been built and fine-tuned. And at CSU, his offense averaged 500 yards a game, was among the top 3 in QB efficiency, and featured one of the country's top receivers. Much of that had nothing to do with Dee Hart.
Also, can we please put the shark thing to rest now?
February 16th, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
You got fins to the left, fins to the right. And you're the only girl in town.
February 16th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
but you stole someone else's joke from another thread.
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