Let's go back to year one when Mac had the outburst when Kelvin Taylor was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That drew a lot of controversy with a lot of fans across the nation supporting McElwain and a lot fans criticizing him for over-reaction. I don't know what happened in the immediate aftermath, and I am not condoning outbursts like this by coaches, but something happened because since then Mac has become very quiet on the sidelines. And just one incident like that doesn't draw that kind of a reaction by the coach. There had to be multiple instances of similar behavior on the practice field or maybe there was the feeling that some of the players had a sense of entitlement that Mac did not see in some of the other places he coached at. Speculation on my part.
This is all speculation but I think the UF snowflake administration told Foley to tell Mac to tone it down because the school did not want to project this kind of image. We just had three years of outburst by Muschamp and the powers that be just said enough is enough. Mac probably saw Saban get away with stuff like this in Tuscaloosa when Mac was there but it wasn't going to be tolerated in Gainesville. Mac had to adjust.
Mac came here with dreams of building a national championship and a program based on the template used by Saban. But whereas Saban could get pretty much whatever he wanted as far as facilities were concerned, Mac had to plead with Foley to open up the pocketbook some in order to pull UF up to at least the facility standards of an Auburn much less Alabama or Tennessee. Even Ole Miss was going to leave us behind.
Mac got some of what he wanted but darn it was frustrating with all the foot dragging.
Mac soon realized that the fan base at Florida wants a more downfield pass oriented offense whereas he wanted to have an offense more in line with the Saban blue-print. He gave a nod to Spurrier and let SOS come on board as a consultant, but as far as I can tell Spurrier has not had much influence in the day to day operations. It is a matter of offensive football ideology. In the end what worked well for Saban at Alabama does not readily translate to what will work well here.
I might be wrong and you can point out how much off base I am, but these are some of my thoughts. I think Mac has lost his mojo because of some of the struggles and frustrations he has had here. He looks down and defeated as many have commented. There has been some glimmer of hope that with the emergence of Franks at QB and some of the new playmakers like Kadarius Toney. We will have to see how things go up in Lexington. Right now it's just back to the old football adage of playing one game at a time and see what happens. Right now we don't know if we are going to win or lose the next game.
The Saban coaching tree is a myth and so the idea that you can import it into your program is equally illusory. I don't know that Saban has a particular offensive philosophy. I've heard it said that he hates the spread, but the product he puts on the field certainly doesn't reflect that. His offenses have evolved over time. Exhibit A: Compare Mac and Kiffen. It's rather telling that one of Mac's take-aways from his Alabama tenure was how impressed he was by speed of the Urban teams. That Nuss flopped at Michigan is probably an indication that what he was doing there was already passé in Tuscaloosa.
As for SOS, I can't say that he was brought in to do anything other than smooze with Bull Gators. His offenses have evolved over time and by the time he left USCe it appears he didn't have any answers. If he's here to give advice, he's probably doing more harm than good.
The secret in Saban's Sauce is disciplined, fundamental football and cash, lots of cash-
http://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-football-coaches-salaries-2017-2017-5. As to the former, this apparently can't be accomplished by most of the highly paid D1 coaches of the world. It certainly isn't happening here. As to the latter, this isn't a case of carping or excuses, just statement of fact. Since the state of Alabama is so closely identified with that football program, the sky is the limit. (That there is an institution of higher education associated with it seems an afterthought.) I don't know how to describe this: you just have to live around it to understand that its an oddity that can't be duplicated anywhere else.