SEC Hot Seat Monitor: Florida's Jim McElwain

When the Florida Gators fired Will Muschamp as their head football coach last year, the Gator faithful were hopeful that things might turn around. Muschamp had not gotten the job done in four years at the helm of the program, and the hope was that Jim McElwain could turn things around.

And it wasn’t necessarily the fact that the Gators hired a big name, because McElwain wasn’t one. It was more the fact that McElwain was an offensive-minded coach, rather than a defensive-minded coach like Muschamp. Gator fans hoped to return to a day when their team could simply outscore yours.

But since the time of his hiring, things have gone downhill quite a bit for McElwain. He struggled in recruiting and it took a couple of late signees for Florida to make it into the Top 25 class rankings. However, Florida’s class, despite being ranked 23rd in the country, was only the 10th-best in the SEC.

What hurt even more was that Florida lost a number of recruits to Muschamp, who is now the defensive coordinator for the Auburn Tigers. The Florida brass contends that this won’t be a problem every year, but Muschamp will continue to recruit the Sunshine State and he has developed a solid network there. And it could be those relationships and that network that cost McElwain in-state players.

Make no mistake, the seat is already hot for Jim McElwain. Florida fans are thirsty to be back in the SEC race and in the hunt for a College Football Playoff. If McElwain and his team don’t show progress this season, his seat will become even hotter.

Hot Seat Monitor: 7 out of 10

Tim Letcher is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.