COLUMBIA, Mo. • When Florida fired football coach Will Muschamp last year, athletics director Jeremy Foley took the classic hire-the-opposite-of-the-last-guy approach. Somewhere in the AD manual, it says when you fire a fat guy, you must hire a skinny guy to replace him.
Muschamp, a career defensive assistant prior to landing the Florida job, is known for his searing sideline scowl and intensity. A dyed-in-the-wool Southeastern Conference ball coach, Muschamp played at Georgia and worked at Auburn and LSU. To replace him, Foley went with Jim McElwain, a 53-year-old folksy offensive specialist from Missoula, Mont., who, unlike Muschamp, came with head coaching experience.