Once you meet the guy, you’d would feel like inviting him over for a family dinner to continue the conversation.

It’s that rare, friendly vibe emitting from Jim McElwain that makes him such a unique addition to the SEC as one of college football’s few universally well-liked coaches.

Warm spirit aside though, the first-year Florida coach understands the challenge that awaits him this fall at a program hoping to regain some of its swagger as a perennial contender in the Eastern Division.

Most would agree the Gators have the talent this fall to win at least eight games, maybe nine, with some good fortune at quarterback and along an inexperienced line.

Intrigue was one of the reasons Coach Mac left extreme job security at Colorado State to return to the SEC at the end of last season. At his introductory press conference, his jovial and ‘I’m just happy for the opportunity’ attitude reflected someone confident — but not cocky — in his abilities to lead a team away from mediocrity back into the realm of the elite.

Almost instantly, McElwain’s earned his players’ respect which is one of the most difficult aspects of being a first-year coach.

“One of the first things he told us was to trust him,” Florida safety Keanu Neal recently told ESPN SEC reporter Chris Low. “With a new coaching staff, it’s hard to go from trusting this coaching staff and then trusting a whole new one right when it comes in. That was his message, though, and it happened fairly quickly because I think we all saw that he genuinely cares about us. We bought into what he wanted and bought into his message and philosophy, and here we are.

“We’re going to get Florida back to where it’s supposed to be together.”

Respected SEC columnist Kevin Scarbinsky of AL.com says McElwain will not only win the press conference, but he’ll win a lot of games with the Gators too. Another advocate of Nick Saban’s ‘process’ according to Scarbinsky, McElwain understands what it takes to be successful (he’s done it at all levels of football) and focuses on the finest details.

Scarbinsky’s thoughts on Florida’s hire of McElwain from a column published in December:

Yes, McElwain did work as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama for four wildly successful years. From 2008 through 2011, the Crimson Tide went 48-6 and won two SEC West titles, one SEC championship and two national championships. McElwain learned a great deal from Saban on how to run a championship program in the SEC, but Coach Mac is his own man. From everything I got to know about him during his time in Tuscaloosa, he’s the right man at the right time for Florida.

David Parker of GatorCountry.com penned an interesting take from a Florida fan’s perspective and credits Gators AD Jeremy Foley for getting it right this time in lieu of his failure in hiring Will Muschamp.

Pulled from his hot take following McElwain’s introduction, Parker tells Gators fans the future is bright in Gainesville:

After the initial shock and disappointment over the realization that Florida would not be offering or garnering the services of any Power 5 coach with national title rings on their fingers, any of the hottest NFL head coaches in the country, or any of the highest-paid glamour boys in the broadcast booth, and more and more research was done on Coach Mac, the method to Foley’s madness began to come into focus. McElwain is in fact exactly what Florida was looking for, and exactly what the program desperately needed. Though his name was just a scratch single in the box score, his actual qualifications are all home runs, and taken together look very much like a grand slam hire.

Longtime SEC extraordinaire Tony Barnhart recently spent a morning on campus with McElwain at the end of spring practice, picking his brain about the first few months on the job. He detailed McElwain’s yearning to ‘turn the page on the Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer era’ and build a new powerhouse at Florida.

Barnhart then brought up issues concerning Florida’s less-than-stellar facilities (by SEC standards and McElwain’s own admittance) and stressed the need for playmakers at wide receivers for the Gators to be successful. Barnhart’s another writer who seems to believe in McElwain if certain criteria is met during the early stages:

There are some realities McElwain has had to face since taking over the program. One of those realities is that, for a host of reasons, when spring practice started Florida had only 58 players on scholarship. By the end of spring practice there were only six scholarship offensive linemen. Six more will enroll this summer. That’s it. Having half of your offensive linemen as true freshmen is not a good thing in the SEC. If we’re going to be candid, Florida hasn’t had a dynamic player at the wide receiver position since Percy Harvin left. Rising junior DeMarcus Robinson had 53 catches last season on a bad offense so the hope is that he’s ready to be a star.

McElwain wasn’t a unanimous ‘home run hire’ based on media opinion, but he’s close. Nick Saban was complimentary of McElwain’s arrival in the SEC in December and thinks he’ll do ‘great things’ at Florida. Other colleagues have also chimed in over the last several months, expressing admiration and congratulatory messages.

The handshakes and surface smiles end when September rolls around, but McElwain seems to have passed his probationary period during his first four months on the job with flying colors.

The on-field results will come.