It’s a running joke in college football circles that every coach that is fired will soon join the Alabama coaching staff as an offensive or defensive “analyst” on Nick Saban‘s staff. For one former Crimson Tide assistant though, that could be a bit more on the nose than normal.
AL.com notes that Saban told the media on Wednesday after practice that he had left a message for Jim McElwain directly this week and also went so far as to send a note of support through their shared agent, the powerful Jimmy Sexton, following McElwain’s parting of ways with Florida as head coach.
“I think Jim did a really good job there to get to the SEC championship game the last two years, the first two years he was there,” Saban said told the site. “We’ve had to play them and they’re always difficult preparation. I’m just sorry it didn’t work out for him better. We’ll do everything we can to help him in the future.”
It seems pretty clear that Saban isn’t thrilled at how things played out in Gainesville with one of his colleagues, even if the Gators and their recent coach weren’t a great fit on or off the field. The two are obviously close in the profession, given the fact that McElwain was Alabama’s offensive coordinator during some title-winning years from 2008-2011 and having played each other each of the last two seasons in the SEC title game.
McElwain has kept a pretty low profile since “parting ways” with Florida and nobody knows exactly what he’ll do next. It could be that he heads back West to an area he’s more comfortable in to become a head coach again, but if that falls through it certainly seems like he’ll be able to slide into an offensive analyst role in Tuscaloosa with open arms from his old boss.