New offensive coordinator McElwain making Tide comfortable

Ken Rogers
Media General News Service
Published: August 3, 2008

TUSCALOOSA — When Jim McElwain got the call, he hung up.

“I thought it was one of my buddies messing with me,” said Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Nope. It really was Nick Saban and he really did want to talk about a job offer.

“How he dug up this name, I don’t know,” McElwain said. “But I’m glad he did.”

Actually, Saban and Fresno head coach Pat Hill worked together on Bill Belichick’s Cleveland Browns staff.

Saban said McElwain came highly recommended and hasn’t disappointed.

“Jim has done a fantastic job since he’s been here,” the coach said. “He’s got an excellent personality. The players like him. I think we have more diversity on what we do offensively without changing the whole ball of wax to make it difficult for the players.”

McElwain’s style — outgoing and energetic — gets the players excited. But it’s his offense that has them smiling.

“I like him a lot,” senior quarterback John Parker Wilson said. “I think it’s going really well. Kinda got used to him during spring. Put in the base stuff. Now we’ve got a chance to learn the details and learn more about it. I’ve enjoyed it.”

Part of Saban’s instruction to McElwain is to reduce the risk of disasters that plagued Alabama’s offense last season.

“We talked a lot about it,” Wilson said. “This offense is going to help out a lot with that. It’s something different than what we’ve been running in the past. ... It’s got a lot of different aspects to it to make it quarterback friendly, you could say. There’s different things we can do. Quick game and throwing to the backs.”

“I don’t know where the ‘quarterback friendly’ term came from, but he better throw completions,” McElwain said, drawing laughs.

McElwain shared his offensive philosophy.

“No. 1 is to be physical and make sure the team we’re playing knows that they better bring their lunch because we’re going to come after you on every play,” he said. “When we hit the field, we’re here on your end for a long day.

“No. 2 is in the game of football, in the game of life, there are ebbs and flows. What we try to do is preach the fact that we’ve got to stay on a level surface. We can’t get down, we can’t get up. We try to preach a ‘win this play philosophy.’ ... The idea of ripping off the rear-view mirror and what happened the last play and not letting it affect your play because you’ve got to go out and win the next play. Those are the things that I try to preach.”

Even with an offense that returns nine starters, including four on the offensive line, it hasn’t been easy. McElwain said going against an experienced defensive staff this spring opened his eyes.

“I was tested by those guys in the spring. Those guys are advanced over there, I’m telling you,” he said. “There are some really good things that those guys do and that can only help you as a ball squad.”

McElwain had just finished a season as offensive coordinator at Fresno State. The Bulldogs were 9-4 in 2007, up from 4-8 in 2006.

His quarterback, Tom Brandstater, had a passing efficiency of 140.5, which ranked 23rd in the country.

The coach said he’s not a stat guy, however.

“At the end of the day it’s all about wins and losses. We can’t lose sight of that fact,” McElwain said. “If we have 5 yards of offense and win the game 3-0, it’s the greatest game in the history of football because we won. That’s what the bottom line is, trying to win the ball game.”

McElwain acknowledged a lack of consistency in the spring.

“Was I happy with the 15 days of spring practice? Absolutely not, plain and simple,” he said.

“I guess my mind-set is it’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re efficient in what we do, get the ball out of our hands, get rid of any turnovers and we put the ball in the red zone and the end one. Is that going to happen? Time will tell.”