Del Rio says ex-coach Jim McElwain used to strip Gators players of their scholarship funding

#1
Hoosier_Vol

Hoosier_Vol

Vol Stuck in B1G 10 Hell
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#1
Former Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio says ex-coach Jim McElwain used to strip Gators players of their scholarship funding without telling them directly or in advance.

In a Periscope video, Del Rio cited multiple instances of players earning scholarships after coming to the team as walk-ons, but discovering on a future financial aid notice that they'd receive $0.00 from the university for the following year.

Del Rio called McElwain's approach of silently stripping players of their scholarships "bulls---" and "cowardly."

Del Rio: McElwain silently stripped Florida players of scholarships
 
#5
#5
Jeremy Foley quietly whiffed on 3 out of his 4 football coach hires at Florida, despite his reputation. Zook was a whiff, Urban was a home run, Muschamp was a whiff, and McElwain was a whiff.
 
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#6
05_never_again said:
Jeremy Foley quietly whiffed on 3 out of his 4 football coach hires at Florida, despite his reputation. Zook was a whiff, Urban was a home run, Muschamp was a whiff, and McElwain was a whiff.
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I'll go a step further and say Foley whiffed 100% of the time, when it was his decision and his decision alone.

Urban Meyer came to Florida because of his relationship with Bernie Machen, who was the president at Utah before coming to Gainesville. Foley's only job was not to screw it up, and he didn't.
 
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Lawrence Wright said:
I'll go a step further and say Foley whiffed 100% of the time, when it was his decision and his decision alone.

Urban Meyer came to Florida because of his relationship with Bernie Machen, who was the president at Utah before coming to Gainesville. Foley's only job was not to screw it up, and he didn't.
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Most Athletic Directors have made some bad hires. It's not easy to find the right football coach regardless of how strong the program is. Mal Moore at Alabama offered the job to Rich Rodriguez before lucking into Saban in December of '06. Even if you don't want to give Foley credit for Meyer, he did hire Billy Donovan (when Donovan was 31 years old). Foley also oversaw the transformation of Florida's image from where it had been in the 1980's. Foley was a great AD.
 
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BowlBrother85 said:
Most Athletic Directors have made some bad hires. It's not easy to find the right football coach regardless of how strong the program is. Mal Moore at Alabama offered the job to Rich Rodriguez before lucking into Saban in December of '06. Even if you don't want to give Foley credit for Meyer, he did hire Billy Donovan (when Donovan was 31 years old). Foley also oversaw the transformation of Florida's image from where it had been in the 1980's. Foley was a great AD.
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Never said Foley wasn’t a great AD, because he most certainly was.

He gets all the credit in the world for hiring Donovan, and building UF’s athletic department into the monster it’s become.

But his football hires have been average at best.
 
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#10
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05_never_again said:
Jeremy Foley quietly whiffed on 3 out of his 4 football coach hires at Florida, despite his reputation. Zook was a whiff, Urban was a home run, Muschamp was a whiff, and McElwain was a whiff.
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Zook was a whiff yea but at least he beat a lot of top 10 teams

The gators damn sure weren’t a easy W like they are now for good teams
 
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BIG BOI 23 said:
Zook was a whiff yea but at least he beat a lot of top 10 teams

The gators damn sure weren’t a easy W like they are now for good teams
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Zook was definitely a better recruiter than either Muschamp or McElwain. The '06 Championship team was obviously loaded with players he had signed.
 
#12
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Lawrence Wright said:
I'll go a step further and say Foley whiffed 100% of the time, when it was his decision and his decision alone.

Urban Meyer came to Florida because of his relationship with Bernie Machen, who was the president at Utah before coming to Gainesville. Foley's only job was not to screw it up, and he didn't.
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Interesting, didn't know that.

How does that guy have such a good reputation as an AD then?
 
#13
#13
05_never_again said:
Interesting, didn't know that.

How does that guy have such a good reputation as an AD then?
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Because our athletic department is one of the best in the country, and the class of the SEC for the last 25 years.

The SEC All-Sports Trophy should be renamed after Jeremy Foley.
 
#14
#14
Lawrence Wright said:
Because our athletic department is one of the best in the country, and the class of the SEC for the last 25 years.

The SEC All-Sports Trophy should be renamed after Jeremy Foley.
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But football is what really moves the needle (especially at SEC schools not named Kentucky) and if it wasn't for Urban, Florida football would have been nothing but underwhelming since Spurrier left. I mean it is great for them that the men's golf team, women's cross country team, etc. are good, but let's face it, nobody really cares. It isn't needle-moving.
 
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05_never_again said:
But football is what really moves the needle (especially at SEC schools not named Kentucky) and if it wasn't for Urban, Florida football would have been nothing but underwhelming since Spurrier left. I mean it is great for them that the men's golf team, women's cross country team, etc. are good, but let's face it, nobody really cares. It isn't needle-moving.
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Thanks Captain Obvious....football fuels other athletic programs.

And when you can celebrate national titles in baseball, basketball, softball, gymnastics, golf, track and field...and so on...you celebrate it.

When you can’t...I guess you harp on what could have been if Urban Meyer never came to Gainesville. :)
 
#16
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05_never_again said:
But football is what really moves the needle (especially at SEC schools not named Kentucky) and if it wasn't for Urban, Florida football would have been nothing but underwhelming since Spurrier left. I mean it is great for them that the men's golf team, women's cross country team, etc. are good, but let's face it, nobody really cares. It isn't needle-moving.
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As a vol fan, that sounds all too familiar..... Still looking for our urban lol
 
#20
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Lawrence Wright said:
Thanks Captain Obvious....football fuels other athletic programs.

And when you can celebrate national titles in baseball, basketball, softball, gymnastics, golf, track and field...and so on...you celebrate it.

When you can’t...I guess you harp on what could have been if Urban Meyer never came to Gainesville. :)
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I think it is an interesting observation. Florida is a great job that should always, always attract a top tier, elite coaching candidate. Florida is one of a handful of football programs in the country that should be "down" for a year, two years tops. Overall, he wasn't actually all that great at hiring football coaches; his good hire turned out to be a really good hire. Zook/Muschamp/McElwain were a combined 75-51 (49-31) with no conference titles and 2 East titles over a decade. I understand that sandwiched in there was a 6-year period with a couple titles, but 10 years is a significant period of time to have only won 60% of your games. Now, I wish Tennessee's down periods were that good, but for a school with resources like Florida, that isn't very good.
 
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05_never_again said:
I think it is an interesting observation. Florida is a great job that should always, always attract a top tier, elite coaching candidate. Florida is one of a handful of football programs in the country that should be "down" for a year, two years tops. Overall, he wasn't actually all that great at hiring football coaches; his good hire turned out to be a really good hire. Zook/Muschamp/McElwain were a combined 75-51 (49-31) with no conference titles and 2 East titles over a decade. I understand that sandwiched in there was a 6-year period with a couple titles, but 10 years is a significant period of time to have only won 60% of your games. Now, I wish Tennessee's down periods were that good, but for a school with resources like Florida, that isn't very good.
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I’m pleased to know you hold a Johnny Come Lately football program like Florida to a higher standard than a historical/traditional blue blood like Tennessee.

It’s almost as if UF shares the state with two...check that...three other schools with a combined nine national titles. ;)
 
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Lawrence Wright said:
I’m pleased to know you hold a Johnny Come Lately football program like Florida to a higher standard than a historical/traditional blue blood like Tennessee.

It’s almost as if UF shares the state with two...check that...three other schools with a combined nine national titles. ;)
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Yes, a much higher standard. I'd do the same thing with a school like Georgia (perhaps the biggest underachiever in college football history) or LSU. I do this because you overrate Tennessee by calling it a blue blood. Everyone here wears orange colored glasses so they can't see it, but Tennessee has really only had one consistent period of dominance since Neyland left in 1952, and that was from 1995-2001. The program has been successful during other times, but that success was very fleeting.

Since the state became something other than pure swampland, UF has won 3 national titles and generally been a much better program than Tennessee has. You dominated Tennessee even during its own period of dominance. The state is busting at the seams with recruits, many of whom want to play in the premier conference in CFB. The worst you really should ever be is a 9-win team in any given year; there's a natural floor under the program. Tennessee has no such natural floor. The only reason Tennessee should have a dominant football program is because of our crazed fanbase and an institution that is willing to spend a lot of money to have a good program. It certainly isn't because it is easy to recruit, and it isn't because we are as successful as a program like Alabama or Ohio State.
 
#24
#24
05_never_again said:
Yes, a much higher standard. I'd do the same thing with a school like Georgia (perhaps the biggest underachiever in college football history) or LSU. I do this because you overrate Tennessee by calling it a blue blood. Everyone here wears orange colored glasses so they can't see it, but Tennessee has really only had one consistent period of dominance since Neyland left in 1952, and that was from 1995-2001. The program has been successful during other times, but that success was very fleeting.

Since the state became something other than pure swampland, UF has won 3 national titles and generally been a much better program than Tennessee has. You dominated Tennessee even during its own period of dominance. The state is busting at the seams with recruits, many of whom want to play in the premier conference in CFB. The worst you really should ever be is a 9-win team in any given year; there's a natural floor under the program. Tennessee has no such natural floor. The only reason Tennessee should have a dominant football program is because of our crazed fanbase and an institution that is willing to spend a lot of money to have a good program. It certainly isn't because it is easy to recruit, and it isn't because we are as successful as a program like Alabama or Ohio State.
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You do realize since Spurrier came back to coach UF, we’ve averaged 9 wins per season....all while playing in CFB’s most competitive state, and competing in CFB’s most competitive conference.
 
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Lawrence Wright said:
You do realize since Spurrier came back to coach UF, we’ve averaged 9 wins per season....all while playing in CFB’s most competitive state, and competing in CFB’s most competitive conference.
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When I said "a 9-win team every year" I'm talking about post-Spurrier. Out of the 12 games you play, the max number of those that should be "loseable" in any given year is about 3, maybe 4 (most typically LSU, Georgia, FSU, and then sometimes Tennessee, or non-permanent West opponent, or a tough non-conference opponent). And even though those games are all loseable, you should still manage to win at least a couple of them.

During the Zook/Muschamp/McElwain period you averaged 7.5 wins per year. During their 10 seasons as coach, 7 of them ended with less than 9 wins. I know I'm calculating that average over non-consecutive periods of time (2002-04 and then from 2011-17), but that is still a significant period of time. At least your school recognizes the expectations and jettisoned Zook after a 23-14 and McElwain after a 22-12, which are decent-looking records on the surface. The decision over Muschamp was obvious.
 
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