Gator Football Plays Waiting Game On McElwain Contract Buyout

University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley and an entourage from the University Athletic Association is back home today after meeting with Colorado State football coach Jim McElwain about the coaching vacancy at Florida.

All indications point to McElwain wanting to accept the job apparently offered to him by Foley but the sticking point to him taking it is his contract buyout at Colorado State which is 7.5 million dollars.

It seems clear that Foley does not want to shell out that kind of money and pay a new head coach and pay off the rest of former coach Will Muschamp’s contract and now McElwain is trying to work with school officials to reach some sort of compromise on the buyout in his contract.

There are conflicting reports about whether or not Colorado State officials are willing to negotiate with McElwain to reduce the buyout amount.   If a compromise or a deal is not struck, it could be a major stumbling block to McElwain being hired by Florida.

Spencer Conover from ESPN radio in Denver said in an interview on ESPN 850’s Sportscene show Wednesday that one type of deal that could be struck is for Florida to play Colorado State in a place like Denver for a big gate for the school, or Colorado State could play a game in Gainesville and get a bigger than normal pay day for playing the Gators.

If McElwain is not hired, it is not clear who Foley would next target for the Florida job.