GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After working though a buyout issue, Jim McElwain is leaving Colorado State to become Florida's next head coach.
The Gators announced the hiring Thursday at the same time McElwain started a team meeting with players and assistants.
The Gators are going to pay McElwain $3.5 million a year to be their new head coach and they will pay Colorado State $3 million as part of his buyout.
University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley spent Tuesday and part of Wednesday in Fort Collins, Colorado meeting with McElwain, but the terms of the buyout were not agreed upon until this morning.
In addition to the $3 million for the buyout, Colorado State will also receive $2 million for playing a future game in Gainesville. The deal makes it the largest buyout ever given to another school in college football history.
McElwain has spent the past three seasons turning around a Rams program that won just three games the season prior to his arrival.
This year his team went 10 and 2, and McElwain was named the Mountain West Coach of the Year.
Unlike former Gator coach Will Muschamp, McElwain is an offensive coach who helped lead Alabama to a pair of national championships in 2009 and 2011.
WFTV
