Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin speaks to the media during Sunday night's press conference. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Gators AD Stricklin Well-Connected for Coaching Search
Sunday, October 29, 2017 | Football, Scott Carter
Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin plans to use a multitude of resources and connections to find right coach for Florida's football program.
The day started early for Stricklin, who began discussions with Gators head coach Jim McElwain and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, about a potential separation agreement between the parties on Sunday morning. By late afternoon, the University Athletic Association announced that McElwain and the UAA had mutually agreed to part ways, thus ending McElwain's tenure as Florida's head coach after 34 games.
Defensive coordinator Randy Shannon takes over as interim head coach as the Gators (3-4, 3-3) prepare to play at Missouri (3-5, 0-4) on Saturday. Stricklin also met with McElwain's staff and the players on Sunday to inform them of the news and offer assistance during the team's transition period.
When Stricklin arrives at work Monday morning, his most meaningful challenge as Florida's athletic director begins. Stricklin turns his focus to the future after a dramatic week highlighted by McElwain's curious death-threat comments six days ago, a 42-7 loss to Georgia on Saturday, and then Sunday's swift announcement that McElwain was no longer the Gators' head coach.
"I'm going to use every resource I can to help us find the best coach,'' Stricklin said. "I'm fortunate to have a lot of contacts and relationships across the country, across this league, people in different parts of the ecosystem of college football, whether it's agents or whatever,'' Stricklin said. "I want the best person to lead the Florida Gator football program. I think this is a dream job for somebody."
A year into his tenure at UF – Stricklin officially replaced former Gators AD Jeremy Foley on Nov. 1, 2016 – Stricklin faces the formidable task of hiring the right person to turn around a Florida football program that has been stuck in neutral for the past eight seasons.
Florida is 59-38 (.608 winning percentage) over that span, which started in the final season of Urban Meyer's tenure in 2010 – aka the season after the departure of Heisman-winning quarterback Tim Tebow. While McElwain led the Gators to back-to-back Southeastern Conference East titles his first two seasons, the Gators' loss to Georgia ensured a ninth consecutive season without an SEC championship, the program's longest such stretch since the league implemented a conference title game 25 years ago.
— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) October 29, 2017
Stricklin is confident the resources are in place for the right coach to win at the highest level as Meyer (two national titles) and Steve Spurrier (five SEC titles, one national title) did during their UF careers.
"This is a place where you can compete for championships at the highest level,'' Stricklin said. "The great thing about a place like Florida is [when] we wake up every morning here, literally, the wind is at our back. You've got a state of 19 million people, have an unbelievable fan base, we're in the best league in the country … unbelievable home-field environment here at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
"There are a lot of great things that someone has to work with and you've got to make sure you look somebody in the eye when you're sitting across from them and determine does this person have the toughness to lead a bunch of young men and be the face of this program."
The McElwain era started well with those back-to-back trips to Atlanta to face Alabama. However, the Gators were overmatched against the Crimson Tide both seasons in the SEC Championship Game and rather than taking a step forward in 2017, they have lost three consecutive games to drop McElwain's record to 22-12 overall, and 16-12 since a 6-0 start in his first season.
The offense managed only 66 yards passing in Saturday's loss to No. 3-ranked Georgia and is ranked 112th nationally. In addition to the on-field struggles, nine players have been suspended the entire season, setting a tenuous tone over the season prior to the first game.
McElwain's 34-game stint as head coach is the shortest for a UF non-interim coach since D.K. Stanley's 29-game stint from 1933-35.
"This is more about than just wins and losses,'' Stricklin said Sunday. "And I'll just leave it at that. I appreciate Coach McElwain, the way he has handled this. I like Coach Mac. I think he is a good man."
As Stricklin opens the search for the 26th head coach in UF football history – his first search for a football coach in his career as an athletic director – he will do so as discreetly as possible.
He cautioned fans not to put a lot of stock in the rumor mill over the next several weeks as the search unfolds.
"I will do everything I can to keep the search process and the details of the search process confidential,'' he said. "We all understand rumors tend to run rampant in these situations and because of that a lot of what people read and what you hear will not be accurate. Every school is different, every school is unique.
"There's not a one-size-fits-all approach to what's going to be successful at every school."
While Stricklin has been at Florida for only a year, his background in the SEC and a 25-year career in college athletics provide a strong knowledge base of what makes Florida football tick.
He has seen it from afar. He is ready to chart the program's new course from inside his office at The Swamp.
"When Florida has been really good, from a distance, it has looked really fun and I want it to be really fun,'' he said. "Our fans, they deserve it to be really fun. I want our players and student-athletes to have a lot of fun. I don't know exactly what that means from an X's and O's standpoint, but usually good leaders make everybody want to come and be excited to work together and that ends up being a lot of fun."
The fun for Stricklin starts Monday morning. Let the search begin.
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