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From: gatornews@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatornews@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Shane Ford
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2017 6:46 AM
To: GatorNews
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators finish strong - McElwain says 'no suprises' on National Signing Day
Gators finish strong
McElwain says 'no suprises' on National Signing Day
By Pat Dooley
Gainesville Sun Sports Columnist
Published: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 9:36 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, February 1, 2017 at 9:36 p.m.
As the band played and the cheerleaders cheered and the shakers shook, Jim McElwain walked into the Indoor Practice Facility at Florida with a swagger and a smile.
He had such a strut the only thing that differentiated his walk from John Travolta's in the opening of "Saturday Night Fever" was a missing can of paint.
But make no mistake about it. This wasn't a coach who finished with a flurry and pulled a top-10 recruiting class out of thin air.
This was a guy who simply saw a plan work out.
"There were no surprises," he said after Florida stunned the recruiting world with a surprising close Wednesday.
Not even C.J. Henderson, the Miami cornerback who nobody thought would be a Gator.
"He had some fun with it," McElwain said.
That's the thing. While Gator fans edged toward the ledge over the last month, McElwain and his staff knew the real story.
They were in great shape. They had back-ended recruiting visits to have the last or next-to-last pitch to a lot of key players. By the time Wednesday rolled around, it was all over but the beautiful smell of faxes in the morning.
Here's something to remember next year — if you're going to be all-in as a fan on recruiting, you might want to know what date National Signing Day is.
It's not in the middle of January.
Back then, the segment of the Gator Nation who cares about such things was apoplectic when recruit Elijah Blades decommitted and Florida's ranking dropped into the 30s.
How dare Jim McElwain?
Clearly the guy was the worst recruiter in the history of the universe and that includes the guy who thought it would be a good idea to put rings around Saturn.
"Still am," McElwain deadpanned.
Everyone had their theories about this disaster in the making, never pausing to wonder if it might be worthwhile to wait until the end of the movie to give it a rating.
The attacks were vicious. It wasn't enough that McElwain and his staff were battling negative recruiting from opposing coaches.
"There wasn't a coach who came before me that hadn't warned me about that," he said. "I always get a kick out of that. It's something we will never do. It's something that we just don't believe in. Here is the interesting stuff. Some of that catches fire and then all of a sudden the truth comes out. Who looks like the idiot? The guy who reported it, right?"
The negativity was thick, but it wasn't just from the outside. It was coming from deep inside his fan base. There had to have been times when he just wanted to scream out, "Hey, shut up and let me do my job." Instead, he shrugged it off.
"Obviously, it's like, 'What are these people thinking?' sometimes," McElwain said. "At least they're thinking.
"I have people in the office that say, 'Mac, you're taking shots from all over the place.' We get a kick out of it, too."
For some reason, there was a lack of trust from a lot of UF fans toward their head coach. All you had to do was listen to talk radio or go on message boards or read my emails to know that. It wasn't just the lunatic fringe. There were a lot of sober people with deep furrows in their brows.
"There's no doubt the negative piece out there is something you always have to battle," McElwain said, "yet we're not the only staff that's ever had to battle that either."
Of course, the best way to battle it is to ignore it and stay ahead of the chains.
When people are complaining that you're losing recruits because you don't have two assistants hired, there's no point in explaining that it was advantageous to have staffers with relationships in expanded roles rather than bring in newbies.
When the noise in the system gets deafening, you can't hear it when you know it's misinformed.
You simply plow ahead. And then you strut. And then you celebrate.
— Contact Pat Dooley at 352-374-5053 or at pat.dooley@gvillesun.com. And follow at Twitter.com/Pat_Dooley.
Sent From Shane's iPhone
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