Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain is getting more and more buzz about possibly replacing Will Muschamp and become the next head coach for the Florida Gators. Sunday evening, Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports is reporting that McElwain is emerging as a "leading candidate," and also that Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley has also spoken with McElwain.
McElwain has done a great job of turning around a Colorado State program that was falling apart under previous head coach Steve Fairchild, and in his third season as the Rams head coach the program was ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 2003 and also on the cusp of earning a New Year's Day bowl game.
Plus, there are the years, 2008-11, that McElwain spent as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama in which multiple national titles were won behind McElwain's offense.
However, there is another coach that is in the mix and they may already have an offer, something of which McElwain does not have. That is current Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze and according to SB Nation's Steven Godfrey, Freeze is considering an offer from Florida that will pay him a base salary between $4.2 and $4.3 million. The Ole Miss coach is also considering an offer for an extension from the Rebels.
Florida administration has responded about these reported offers in a press releasing saying, "We will have no comment on the recent multiple reports other than to say that we have made no job offers to anyone and reports claiming that are false."