- Mar 27, 2016
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That is what McElwain actually is quoted as having said in response to UF's prior lack of QB play at his opening press conference. I looked it up and here the quotation:
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-i-can-win-with-my-dog-claribelle-playing-qb/
He is often slightly misquoted on this and some say it is a sign he was not humble enough coming into a job. I now wonder looking back if UF fans should have looked at this not as a lack of humility, but rather a warning. I wonder if Foley had sold him that UF had all the resources of anyone and has long had a UAL jealousy, causing McElwain to signal he was planning to build a UAL type program here as his boss wanted. I now see McElwain saying in that statement that under him UF would be fine with the continued bad QB play of the recent past. That is McElwain came to UF not particularly concerned about improving the QB play or offense despite other things said in that press conference.
That certainly appears to be what McElwain has tried to do in his 2 and a half seasons. In some ways Foley sold McElwain a bill of goods not unlike the bill of goods sold to Meyer. UF is not UAL or even Ohio State. There are certain ways UF differs from UAL that can make it harder to win at UF. Among them are:
1. UF and its entire fan base is not a walking talking NCAA violation. UF went that route with Charlie Pell and decided as a university that it was not willing to go there. This means that it will always be hard to recruit like UAL when they are winning at UF.
2. At UF the head football coach gets to suspend players for being late for team meetings or missing practice and that is about it. The knucklehead 9 are suspended by the university. Despite even the Gainesville _Sun_ guys sometimes talking about McElwain suspending this or that player, most of those times it was UF that suspended them not McElwain. That is not the case at other programs and apparently even was relaxed for Meyer at UF since he had the presidents ear.
3. The press is not as compliant here as in Alabama or even Columbus Ohio. Sure the Gainesville _Sun_ and Gatorcountry are pretty compliant, but the rest of the media around the state are tougher on the UF program than at UAL.
4. UF's fan are likely to vote against a lackluster product on the field even if that product is winning. Apparently this is happening all over college football, but at UF given UF's history having an entertaining product on the field is more important to the program.
5. UF's admissions standards for athletes is above the minimum applied at other places.
Well that is my rant on this. I now view McElwain's correctly quoted statement about Claribelle as more of a warning than a lack of humility.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-i-can-win-with-my-dog-claribelle-playing-qb/
He is often slightly misquoted on this and some say it is a sign he was not humble enough coming into a job. I now wonder looking back if UF fans should have looked at this not as a lack of humility, but rather a warning. I wonder if Foley had sold him that UF had all the resources of anyone and has long had a UAL jealousy, causing McElwain to signal he was planning to build a UAL type program here as his boss wanted. I now see McElwain saying in that statement that under him UF would be fine with the continued bad QB play of the recent past. That is McElwain came to UF not particularly concerned about improving the QB play or offense despite other things said in that press conference.
That certainly appears to be what McElwain has tried to do in his 2 and a half seasons. In some ways Foley sold McElwain a bill of goods not unlike the bill of goods sold to Meyer. UF is not UAL or even Ohio State. There are certain ways UF differs from UAL that can make it harder to win at UF. Among them are:
1. UF and its entire fan base is not a walking talking NCAA violation. UF went that route with Charlie Pell and decided as a university that it was not willing to go there. This means that it will always be hard to recruit like UAL when they are winning at UF.
2. At UF the head football coach gets to suspend players for being late for team meetings or missing practice and that is about it. The knucklehead 9 are suspended by the university. Despite even the Gainesville _Sun_ guys sometimes talking about McElwain suspending this or that player, most of those times it was UF that suspended them not McElwain. That is not the case at other programs and apparently even was relaxed for Meyer at UF since he had the presidents ear.
3. The press is not as compliant here as in Alabama or even Columbus Ohio. Sure the Gainesville _Sun_ and Gatorcountry are pretty compliant, but the rest of the media around the state are tougher on the UF program than at UAL.
4. UF's fan are likely to vote against a lackluster product on the field even if that product is winning. Apparently this is happening all over college football, but at UF given UF's history having an entertaining product on the field is more important to the program.
5. UF's admissions standards for athletes is above the minimum applied at other places.
Well that is my rant on this. I now view McElwain's correctly quoted statement about Claribelle as more of a warning than a lack of humility.
Like we were that desperate out shopping head coaches in the Mountain West Conference that we had to oversell the job description. 
