The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

The Student News Site of Colorado State University

The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Print Edition
Letter to the editor submissions
Have a strong opinion about something happening on campus or in Fort Collins? Want to respond to an article written on The Collegian? Write a Letter to the Editor by following the guidelines here.
Follow Us on Twitter
Crypto Exchange Listing: Types of Exchanges and Compliance Requirements
March 25, 2024

The crypto industry continues to evolve, fueled by the increasing institutional adoption of crypto. Today, numerous companies are entering the...

CSU football coach Jim McElwain eager to begin first head coaching job with the Rams

After spending more than two decades serving in various assistant coaching positions, Jim McElwain will lead his own team onto the field for the first time as head coach. But he won’t care much about that title.

“As far as the years of doing this, the reason that I do it is because I have an opportunity to affect a young man’s life in a positive way,” McElwain said. “And that’s the only reason I’m here.”

Ad

One of the main reasons McElwain received the head coaching position with the Rams, however, is because of the success he had as offensive coordinator at Alabama, winning two national championships during the last four years.

“Jim did (a) really good job here organizing our offense, getting along well with the group of people he’s had to work with,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

“He’s worked as hard as anybody as I’ve ever had coach for us in our program, and I certainly appreciate the job he has done.”

The hard work at Alabama paid off for McElwain during the offseason, when he was courted by multiple Division-I schools to become a head coach, but ultimately chose to make Fort Collins his home.

“This is an unbelievable community, and a great town,” McElwain said. “You couple that with a great university, one that has won in recent history, I mean, it was a no-brainer.”

The CSU football team has been pleased with the decision McElwain made to join the Rams, as throughout the offseason players have continually expressed how excited they are to play for the new coaching regime.

“He inspires you,” CSU fullback Jake Levin said. “He gets you to do things you never thought you could do before. He wants you to drain your tank every day.”

It works, players say, because he practices what he preaches.

Attention to detail has been a hallmark of McElwain’s success at every coaching stop, and he maintains that the mentoring he has received to this point has prepared him for the first head coaching job of his career.

Ad

“It’s been 27, 28 years in the making,” McElwain said. “I’ve had great training from some of the tops in the business, and so (I’ve been) able to kind of rely on them a little bit and yet there’s gonna be some firsts that come up, but that’s why you prepare.”

When things don’t go exactly as planned, McElwain, who has been described as a perfectionist, intently studies film while trying to correct the mistakes his units makes, and improve for the next game.

“He takes it as hard as anybody if things don’t work out the way he’d like for them to or we don’t get the kind of results we’d like to get,” Saban said. “He’s done a fantastic job and I’m sure he’ll be great as the head coach at Colorado State.”

Football Beat Reporter Andrew Schaller can be reached at sports@collegian.com.

View Comments (8)
More to Discover

Comments (8)

When commenting on The Collegian’s website, please be respectful of others and their viewpoints. The Collegian reviews all comments and reserves the right to reject comments from the website. Comments including any of the following will not be accepted. 1. No language attacking a protected group, including slurs or other profane language directed at a person’s race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, physical or mental disability, ethnicity or nationality. 2. No factually inaccurate information, including misleading statements or incorrect data. 3. No abusive language or harassment of Collegian writers, editors or other commenters. 4. No threatening language that includes but is not limited to language inciting violence against an individual or group of people. 5. No links.
All The Rocky Mountain Collegian Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *