Just Like with Urban Meyer, Florida Hires a Proven Winner in Jim McElwain

Does history repeat itself?

Not always in its exact form.

When Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley nabbed Urban Meyer away from Utah under Notre Dame's nose after the 2004 season, it was bold, clever and worked out like a charm. Meyer won two national titles in Gainesville and put the program back on the national map.

Could the new guy follow suit? He has a similar track record.

Florida announced Thursday that the $7.5 million buyout hurdle had been cleared, and that Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain will become the new head coach of the Florida Gators.

"Coach McElwain was someone we targeted from the beginning of the search," Foley said in the release. "The more we worked through the process and did our due diligence, coupled with our meeting and conversations with him and those around him, it was obvious he is the right person to lead the Florida Gator football program."

Florida will pay McElwain an average of $3.5 million per season for six seasons, and agreed to pay Colorado State $2 million for a game in Gainesville sometime between 2017-2020 to cover part of McElwain's buyout.

USA TODAY Sports

Foley's latest coaching search proves that he is not only still clever, but has evolved with the times. Private planes can be tracked—and hidden—on FlightAware.com, so when a flight plan was filed from Gainesville to Fort Collins, Colorado on Tuesday, Twitter ignited.

Instead of hiding a coaching search, like most athletic directors have tried to do in the past, Foley—in an Internet-friendly, yet passive-aggressive fashion—emphatically said, "McElwain's my guy."

From the absence of secrecy to Florida's own Twitter account tweeting out a play-by-play on Wednesday, this was an old-school search with a new-school flavor.

As I wrote on Monday, McElwain—in his third year as Colorado State's head coach—isn't the sexy hire for Florida. He's the right hire.

McElwain doesn't have the same name recognition that Meyer had when he came to Gainesville prior to the 2005 season, but he has similar credentials.

Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Offensive guru? Check.

Proven winner? Check.

What's not to like?

McElwain inherited a Colorado State program that was lost. Three straight 3-9 seasons had relegated the once-proud program to a Mountain West afterthought—which is kind of like being the slowest offensive lineman on the scout team.

The Rams averaged 350 or fewer yards per game in the three seasons prior to McElwain's arrival. Was the turnaround immediate? No. McElwain struggled in his first season in Fort Collins, but then rebounded to average 483.7 yards per game over the last two seasons.

During those two seasons, his program went 18-8, 10-2 this year and, as NCAA.com notes, was ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time since 2003.

The Colorado State program has gone from a football outpost to a Mountain West power in just three years.

Year	YPG	YPP	PPG
2009	350.8	5.69	21.7
2010	335.2	5.12	16.5
2011	351.3	5.29	21.4
2012	339.0	5.42	21.2
2013	471.6	6.29	36.2
2014	497.8	7.21	35.9

McElwain deserves all the credit.

Quarterback Garrett Grayson struggled a bit early as a sophomore in 2012 before an injury cost him six games at the end of the season. He came back with a vengeance in 2013, throwing for 3,696 yards, and has 3,779 so far this season.

Florida—as a team—hasn't thrown for more than 3,000 yards in a season since 2009. In two of the last three years, it failed to break the 2,000-yard mark.

Does McElwain bring the splash that Meyer brought when he was hired after leading Utah to an unblemished record and a Fiesta Bowl berth? Nope, but that's only because Meyer had the time and resources to build his name into a hot coaching commodity at Bowling Green and Utah.

McElwain had a steeper climb and got lured away from Fort Collins before he could get to the top of the mountain.

If you're Foley, that's a good thing. That means he's ahead of the curve, knows what kind of coach he is, what he'll become and what he can do for the Florida program.

In an SEC East that is trending down, the Gators will be contenders next season—as long as McElwain can find a quarterback.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.