Jim McElwain Might Have Been Nick Saban's Biggest Coaching Prodigy

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The celebration was wrapping up on the field, and Jim McElwain was finally heading to the locker room at the Georgia Dome, feeling both a strong sense of accomplishment and relief.

As he was being congratulated about the University of Alabama's return to the SEC Championship Game and knocking off reigning national champion Florida, the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator admitted that he had essentially been working on the game plan since the previous year’s loss.

“Whew,” he let out with a smile, probably having no clue as to how he had just contributed to a massive shift in the power structure in both college football and the conference. For him personally, it would lead to his first head coaching job at Colorado State in 2012 and then taking over the program he helped beat that day in 2009.

Saturday, as part of the ongoing wave of SEC East teams looking to former Nick Saban assistants to get back on top, McElwain will be back in Atlanta trying to win his first SEC title. On the opposing sideline will be his former mentor, looking to lock up his sixth.

“I’ve always thought Mac was a really good coach, really good guy, well-liked by his players, really good teacher,” Saban said. “Very innovative in terms of creating issues for the defensive team, but doing it in a way that is doesn’t create problems for his own players. It’s not like you’re running new plays all the time, but maybe the presentation is a little bit different.

“The guy’s integrity professionally, the kind of person he is, it’s all A-plus. So any success that he’s had is not at all a surprise to me.”

Nor should it have been.

Although a supposedly depleted Florida—which had just six healthy scholarship offensive linemen in the spring—was picked to place fifth in the East at media days and lost its starting quarterback in mid-October when Will Grier was suspended for violating NCAA rules, the Gators won the division during McElwain’s first year in Gainesville.

In his previous stop at Colorado State, which had enjoyed just one winning season since 2003 before McElwain was hired, the Rams went 10-2 last year and at one point were ranked No. 21 in the polls. The offense set school records and, led by quarterback Garrett Grayson and wide receiver Rashard Higgins, was considered one of the best in the nation.

Year	School	Record
2012	Colorado State	4-8
2013	Colorado State	8-6
2014	Colorado State	10-2
2015*	Florida	10-2

That’s why Florida didn’t blink at paying the largest buyout ever given to another school in college football history, $5 million—a contract term that McElroy insisted upon to protect the program. It’s sort of like when he was hired by Colorado State in early December 2011, as he still coached Alabama’s offense through the BCS Championship Game (the 21-0 victory against LSU in New Orleans).

“It speaks volumes of his character and his professionalism,” Saban said.

Consequently, McElwain might have been the best head coaching prodigy that Saban ever had, which is really saying something, given that Jimbo Fisher has won a national championship at Florida State and Mark Dantonio is going for both his third Big Ten title and a playoff spot this weekend.  

Longtime Saban assistant coach Kirby Smart is also on the verge of being named the head coach at Georgia.

“He'll be a great head coach,” McElwain said. “He's been trained by the best.”

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While McElwain and Smart could potentially bring the Florida-Georgia rivalry to a whole new level and are sitting on two of the top recruiting hotbeds in the country, the 2009 SEC Championship Game may the best example of McElwain’s potential.

At the time, Urban Meyer was on the verge of a dynasty at Florida, and quarterback Tim Tebow was being mentioned as not only a contender for his second Heisman Trophy but possibly being the best college football player ever.

In came Alabama, with the quarterback it landed after missing on Tebow, Greg McElroy, and Florida having won the 2008 meeting, 31-20. The Crimson Tide defense was good, but everyone new the best way to stop Tebow and the Gators was to keep their offense off the field.

“It was a great game plan,” Tebow said.

McElroy, now one of Tebow’s broadcast partners on the SEC Network, described three key components of it on Wednesday:

• Because Florida cornerback Joe Haden was much stronger on the outside, Alabama played wide receiver Julio Jones in the slot “as much as humanly possible.”
• With Gators linebacker Brandon Spikes better against the run, Alabama made short passes a priority in the hopes of getting its playmakers the ball in space.
• Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong liked to blitz after the Gators’ offense scored to capitalize on the momentum.   

Sure enough, on the first snap after the Gators closed to within 12-10 in the second quarter, Mark Ingram Jr. took a screen pass and went 69 yards, scoring a three-yard touchdown on the subsequent play.

“I think what he does a really good job of is recognizing tendencies, big-picture tendencies, too, not just on his side of the football but on the other side: what they’re doing offensively and how that affects the way the defensive coordinator usually acts,” McElroy said. “He does a good job of recognizing strengths on his own team, too.”

That screen pass likely clinched the Heisman Trophy for the running back. The Crimson Tide went on to win, 32-13, and the balance of power in college football shifted as Alabama won three of the next four national championships.

It’s now looking for another, and the guy who hung up on Saban when he first called (because he thought someone was playing a prank) is the only thing standing in the way of a return to the playoffs.

As for McElwain's chances on Saturday, there’s one ominous statistic working against him: Saban has never lost a game to a former assistant coach.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Christopher Walsh is a lead SEC college football writer. Follow Christopher on Twitter @WritingWalsh.