News broke Thursday morning that the all-important hurdle of negotiating Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain’s $7.5 million had been cleared and the three-year head coach agreed to coach the Florida Gators.
Via their Twitter account, the Gators released a statement about the hire, along with some thoughts from Florida AD Jeremy Foley.
Statement from athletics director Jeremy Foley on the hire: pic.twitter.com/PIZhJWQlEC
— GatorZone Football (@GatorZoneFB) December 4, 2014
Scott Carter of GatorZone.com released the details of McElwain’s negotiated buyout, revealing that Florida will pay $3 million over the course of six years to CSU and will give the Rams an addition $2 million for a game in the Swamp sometime between 2017-20.
The new Florida head coach will also be responsible for paying CSU $2 million as well in order to cover the cost of the $7 million buyout. McElwain will make an average of $3.5 million each year over the next six years as head coach of the Gators, making him the sixth-highest paid coach in the SEC.
Drew Laing will be providing analysis and insight on Florida, Georgia, Missouri and South Carolina.
