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Gainesville columnist gives odds on Jim McElwain’s return in ’18
By Keith Farner
Published:
The issue of death threats toward the Florida football program, raised this week by coach Jim McElwain, is just the latest in a string of incidents that have caused problems for the Gators.
During a visit with The Paul Finebaum Show on Thursday, Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley outlined some of the comments and events that began last year.
“What could make it worse other than poor performances on the football field?,” Finebaum asked.
“Poor performances on the football field could make it worse,” Dooley said. “I don’t think this incident has made it worse more so than some of the things that have happened, some of the other things that have been said. I think what happened, more than anything Paul, is because of the statement that Florida put out, which was almost, ‘we’ve had it with this stuff’ people are all of a sudden awake that this is an issue.”
Dooley said there’s been an underlying tension for at least a year between McElwain and Florida fans.
“It’s palpable, it’s there,” Dooley said. “It’s not just wins and losses, it’s not just offense and it’s not just Xs and Os. It’s that Jim saying at signing day last year, ‘These fans have driven coaches out of here before.’ You just don’t say that. That’s not the kind of thing you should be saying. This is not a new thing.”
Winning, of course, would change some things, and Dooley suggested there is still a slim chance Florida could reach the SEC Championship game.
“The bottom line is, when you’re not winning, and you’re stinking on offense, and your fans are frustrated, and you say some of the things you’ve said, it doesn’t go over well,” Dooley said.
Dooley added that McElwain’s teams always play hard, but that the upcoming South Carolina game would be a ‘coin flip’ game. Coupled with the Florida State game, Dooley said Florida could win either of those games, or neither, nothing would surprise him.
“What number would you put, Pat, in terms of the odds of Jim McElwain returning next year,” Finebaum asked.
“Well, Paul, I would say 50/50 probably,” he said.
Finebaum replied, “That’s an interesting statement that you made, Pat, and I’m not asking you for anything other than an honest answer. But before the season, yeah, McElwain could have left for some other job, but it wasn’t really likely to think that he would not make it back for his fourth year.”
Dooley said, “But again, a lot of things have happened since then, Paul. There’s been a lot of public embarrassments, whether it be the players suspended. I’m a guy who will stand up and say you can’t be around all the players all the time. But it’s still your watch. It’s still your players who you recruited who got this embarrassing trouble that really has destroyed your season, which could have been a good season. The team he had in July was a legitimate top 15 team. But we didn’t get the team that was advertised here in Gainesville.”
“… This goes back to the Outback Bowl last year when he stood up there after winning a game and said, ‘Well, we’ll see what kind of commitment our administration has going forward,’ and you’re like, what, where did that come from? This is with an AD who’d been in the job two months. All that stuff goes into this. … With all the things that have happened over the last year, his position is certainly not guaranteed.”
The 3-3 Gators will take on 7-0 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in Jacksonville.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
