One day after a deal for Colorado State coach Jim McElwain to become the head coach for the Florida football team stalled because of his hefty $7.5-million buyout, an agreement has been reached.
UF announced Thursday that McElwain, the three-year head coach at Colorado State, will serve as the next head coach of the Florida Gators football team.
In a statement released by UF, McElwain’s compensation package from UF will be $3.5 million annually over a six year period.
ESPN’s Chris Low confirmed the buyout resolution Thursday and Matt Stephens of the Coloradoan confirmed the hiring shortly afterward.
At 11:19 a.m., Florida made it official through one of its Twitter account (@GatorZoneFB) by tweeting "#GatorNation, we are pleased to officially announce our new head coach…Jim McElwain."
UF athletics director Jeremy Foley said in a statement that McElwain was targeted early in the search process and after vetting, he was the obvious choice.
"He has a proven track record on the offensive side of the ball, has coached in the SEC, won two national championships and has had success as a head coach,’’ Foley said in the statement. "He has recruited the South and the state of Florida and has spent time coaching at the highest level in the NFL.
"He has an engaging personality and is someone who can connect with a variety of audiences and he operates with a high level of integrity. I welcome him and his family to The Gator Nation and I’m looking forward to working alongside him and his staff as they build a championship program both on and off the field."
UF was able to work around the buyout snag by compensating CSU with a future game and getting McElwain to contribute money as well in a package that totals $7 million.
UF will pay $3 million over six years to Colorado State, and McElwain will pay $2 million "over time."
The Gators will also play the Rams in a future game in Gainesville between 2017-20 with a $2 million guarantee.
Foley — along with at least three additional members of the University Athletic Association — traveled to Fort Collins, Colorado, via a chartered jet on Tuesday afternoon and stayed the night in order to negotiate a deal with McElwain.
The plane left Colorado en route for Gainesville Regional Airport at 12:52 p.m. Mountain Standard Time (2:52 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday, which was about an hour earlier than the scheduled departure.
McElwain was not on board when the flight landed in Gainesville around 5:30 p.m.
After arriving back in Gainesville, Foley said conversations were positive and would continue.
"We had a great conversation," Foley said Wednesday. "We’re not there yet."
But they are there now.
And McElwain is ready to come to Gainesville.
"I’m humbled, yet very excited about the tremendous opportunity that Dr. (Bernie) Machen and Jeremy Foley have afforded me and my family," McElwain said in a release. "I can’t tell you how eager I am to get to Gainesville to set a course for who we are going to be and what we will be all about."
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McElwain turned the Colorado State football program around since taking the head coaching job in 2012.
The 52-year-old from Missoula, Montana, accrued a 22-16 career record in three seasons with the Rams, which was his first head coaching job.
After taking over a team that boasted a 3-9 record for three straight seasons, McElwain has led Colorado State to season records of 4-8, 8-6 and now 10-2.
This season, the Rams have the 13th-ranked offense in yards per game (497.8) and are fourth in yards per play (7.2).
Garrett Grayson, CSU’s starting quarterback and the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year, is second nationally in passing efficiency (171.26) and sixth in passing yards per game (314.9).
Rams sophomore Rashard Higgins — a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, given annually to the nation’s best collegiate wide receiver — leads the country with 149.1 receiving yards per game and 17 total receiving touchdowns.
On Nov. 9, Colorado State checked in to the Associated Press top 25 poll at No. 23, marking the first time the Rams were ranked since the week of Aug. 24, 2003.
And McElwain has an extensive coaching background as well, including experience inside the Southeastern Conference.
He came from the Nick Saban coaching tree, serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama from 2008-11.
The Crimson Tide went 48-6 while McElwain was on staff and he developed two quarterbacks (Greg McElroy and AJ McCarron), a Heisman trophy winner (running back Mark Ingram in 2009) and a Heisman finalist (running back Trent Richardson in 2011) during his tenure.
McElwain was a part of staffs that won national championships with the Crimson Tide in 2009 and 2011.
During those four years, the Crimson Tide never fielded an offense that was ranked worse than 64th in the country and sixth in the SEC — both of those lows came in his first year with Alabama.
Prior to his time with the Crimson Tide, McElwain had 23 years of experience at the collegiate or national level, working with Fresno State (2007), the Oakland Raiders (2006), Michigan State (2003-05), Louisville (2000-02), Montana State (1995-99) and Eastern Washington (1985-94).
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McElwain’s hiring announcement came just five days after former UF head coach Will Muschamp’s final game with the Gators — a 24-19 loss to then-No.3 Florida State on Saturday.
Muschamp finished his tenure with a 28-21 record as Florida’s head coach and went 17-15 in conference play. Of those 17 conference wins, 11 came against Kentucky, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, while UF had 1-3 records against Georgia, LSU and Florida State under Muschamp’s watch.
The final nail in Muschamp’s coffin with the Gators came following Florida’s 23-20 overtime loss to South Carolina on Nov. 15.
It was UF’s third straight home loss and the sixth loss at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in eight games dating back to the 2013 season.
The school announced Muschamp’s firing less than 24 hours after the loss to the Gamecocks, with Foley saying in a release that Florida football "not where the program needs to be and should be."
"We’ve had our opportunities," Muschamp said following UF’s loss to FSU on Saturday. "You look at two other games (LSU and South Carolina) where we had the game in hand and had our opportunities to get it done and we didn’t get it done."
Florida defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will serve as the interim head coach for UF’s bowl game.
While Muschamp struggled to consistently find wins on the field, he was successful with developing the football team off the field.
"(I’ll be remembered as) just a guy that did it the right way," Muschamp said. "I hold my head walking out of here. We did things the right way. We didn’t win enough games. I was asked to clean up a program. We did that."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126, Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF
Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain directs his team against Air Force in the fourth quarter of Air Force's 27-24 victory in an NCAA college football game at Air Force Academy, Colo., on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014.
