Jim McElwain

Jim McElwain (born March 1, 1962) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach of the Colorado State Rams. McElwain was hired on December 13, 2011.

Early life
Jim McElwain was born in Missoula, Montana in 1962. He played quarterback at Sentinel High School in Missoula where he was chosen as an all-state quarterback. He then went on to play quarterback in college at Eastern Washington from 1980 to 1983, and he earned a degree in education.

Early career
After graduating from Eastern Washington he stayed there as a graduate assistant and was eventually given the job of quarterbacks and receivers coach. During his stint as a coach there from 1985 to 1994 his team made its way to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs twice and won the Big Sky championship in 1992 under head coach Dick Zornes. From Eastern Washington, McElwain took an offensive coordinator position at Montana State. He enjoyed a successful career with the Bobcats from 1995 to 1999, and coached the offense to the number one scoring offense in the Big Sky Conference in 1998 with 31.6 points per game.

His first coaching job in Division I-A football was at University of Louisville where he was the receivers and special teams coach from 2000 to 2002. At Louisville he tutored All-Conference USA receivers Arnold Jackson, Deion Branch, Damien Dorsey and Zek Parker. Also his special teams set a school record of nine blocked kicks in 2000–2001 season. He was then offered the assistant head coaching position at Michigan State when he followed Louisville’s head coach John L. Smith there. With the Spartans his coaching of the receivers and special teams helped lead them to the Alamo Bowl in his first season.

Oakland Raiders
Jim McElwain’s National Football League coaching career was very brief. After his success at Michigan State he was offered a job to be the quarterback coach for the Oakland Raiders. He was only with them for one year in which the Oakland Raiders ended the season 2–14. McElwain was dismissed along with many of the other coaches on the team, including head coach Art Shell.

Return to college football
In 2007, Jim McElwain was contacted by Fresno State, and he accepted a job to become their offensive coordinator. While at Fresno State he built a powerhouse offense which ranked 38th in the country averaging 419.5 yards a game and 32nd in the nation in points per game with 32.9. He helped lead them to a 9–4 record on the year and beating Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl.

On February 1, 2008, McElwain accepted an offer from Nick Saban to be the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama. In his first season as the offensive coordinator, the Crimson Tide finished the regular season 12–0; then lost their last two games to the University of Florida in the 2008 SEC Championship Game and the University of Utah in the 2009 Sugar Bowl.

In 2009, his offense led the Crimson Tide to a 12–0 regular season record. They then went on to defeat the number one team in the country, the Florida Gators, in the 2009 SEC Championship Game. There his offense dominated the Gators number one defense in the country and compiled 490 yards of offense, more than twice the yards the Gators defense had averaged giving up all year. McElwain's offense out rushed the Gators offense 251 yards to 88 yards. 63 of those yards coming from the 2007 Heisman winner Tim Tebow. His offense put up 32 points and held on to the ball for 39 minutes and 37 seconds, almost twice the Gators total of 20 minutes and 23 seconds. Alabama went on to beat the Texas Longhorns in the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. In 2011, the Crimson Tide finished the season with a 12–1 record, and beat the LSU Tigers 21–0 in the 2012 BCS National Championship Game.

Colorado State
On December 12, 2011, sources revealed that McElwain had accepted the head coaching position with Colorado State. A press conference was held at the Colorado State University Rams indoor practice facility on December 13, 2011 to officially announce the hiring.

McElwain's tenure, dubbed by the school's athletic department as "A Bold New Era", began on a high note. McElwain's Rams rallied from an 11-point deficit to defeat arch-rival Colorado 22-17 at Sports Authority Field in Denver on September 1. McElwain became the first CSU coach to win his debut since Jerry Wampfler in 1970 and the first to ever win his debut against CU. The momentum didn't last long, though, as CSU suffered a 22-9 setback in their home opener one week later to defending FCS National Champion North Dakota State. It was the first time in 20 years CSU had lost to a team from the FCS (formerly 1-AA) division and was the start of a six game losing skid. The program did show improvement towards the end of the season, winning three of their final five games to finish 4-8 in McElwain's first season.

Personal life
Jim McElwain is married to Karen McElwain, and has two daughters Johanna and Elizabeth, and one son Jerrett.