Florida HC Jim McElwain Not out of Line in Sideline Tirade

We are in a day and age where cameras are everywhere, and moments that used to be private get broadcast to the public instantaneously thanks to the miracle of modern technology.

First-year Florida head coach Jim McElwain found that out the hard way during Saturday night's 31-24 win over East Carolina at "The Swamp."

Following a seven-yard touchdown run by junior Kelvin Taylor in the fourth quarter that gave the Gators a 31-17 lead on the Pirates, Taylor was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for giving the "throat slash" gesture on a score that essentially put the game on ice.

McElwain was not pleased, gathered his team around and went off on Taylor—the son of former Gators running back and NFL veteran Fred Taylor.

OK, that looks bad, but what did he actually say? Thanks to cellphone video from fans near the sideline, we can also hear it (Warning: Video below contains profanity).

The first-year head coach of the Gators didn't back down when he addressed the situation in the postgame press conference, according to Scott Carter of GatorZone.com:

"

Our lack of playing with discipline and understanding how you play the game crept up. It was embarrassing. We've got a long ways to go. It starts with understanding selfish acts hurt the team, and it will be dealt with. And it's not how it's going to be around here anymore.

"

Good for McElwain.

This was the first chance he has truly had to instill his brand of discipline on the Gators within the structure of the game, and not only did he knock that opportunity out of the park, he did so in a fashion that will resonate through the program and on the recruiting trail.

Cole Cubelic, host on 730 AM WUMP in Huntsville, Alabama, and analyst on the SEC Network, played center for Auburn in the late '90s and early 2000s and knows what this is like.

"When it comes to coaches yelling at their players, I was coached by one of the best to ever do it," he said of former Auburn and current Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett. "This incident doesn't bother me because it didn't turn physical, which would be crossing the line. This is nothing new and is not out of line."

As Cam Underwood of StateOfTheU.com noted on Twitter, you can bet opposing coaches took note and will try to use that against McElwain.

McElwain doesn't care, though.

If a player or a player's family doesn't want to be taught discipline in the way McElwain teaches it, he's not meant for the Florida program anyway. At least, that's the way McElwain and his staff likely feel about it.

If this seems familiar, it is.

McElwain coached under Alabama head coach Nick Saban as his offensive coordinator from 2008-2011. During that time, he witnessed firsthand Saban's tirade on former quarterback AJ McCarron late in a blowout win over Mississippi State in 2010.

All Saban has done since then is reel in top-ranked recruiting classes year after year and won two national titles.

Sure, it's a moment that will be blasted all over the Internet, be discussed heavily on talk shows and live on forever in today's age of social media.

That doesn't mean McElwain was in the wrong, though.

He was doing his job, plain and simple. The Florida football program will be better off in the long run because of it.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Statistics are courtesy of CFBstats.com.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.