Flashback: Remember This Day Jim McElwain Undressed Kelvin Taylor In Front Of 90,000 At The Swamp?

For Your Holiday Reading Pleasure: Eruption Of Mt. McElwain 9-12-15

By BUDDY MARTIN

GatorBaitMedia.com Editor

Football being a game of powerful emotion, there are bound to be explosions and temper tantrums. Saturday night at The Swamp, however, there was a meltdown of epic proportion.

Maybe not an eruption equal to Mount Kiluea on the Big Island of Hawaii but one that may never be equalled on Mount McElwain.

When running back Kelvin Taylor scored to put Florida up two touchdowns over East Carolina, he followed it up with the worst kind of celebration in college football: The despicable, moronic, gangsta throat slash that in these times of racial unrest is also reprehensible and offensive.

Taylor got more than just flagged for it. He got busted by his coach on national TV with one of the most vitriolic verbal assaults in NCAA history.

I’ve witnessed some of the best and worst rants at Florida Field/Ben Hill Griffin over more than five decades, but none as volatile or lengthy as the one Saturday night by Florida coach Jim McElwain.

Some of Will Muschamp’s best were about a 9.3 on the Richter Scale. By comparison, Steve Spurrier may have done a couple of 7s or 8s back in the ‘90s. Kid stuff.

I think McElwain did a 9.8 on Taylor, which would make it an unofficial school record. All that was missing to qualify for a 10 was the Bobby Knight chair tossing.

It deserves its own name, so I dubbed it The McElChamp.

The fact that cameras and mics are everywhere makes these modern rants more impactful in our living room, of course.

This wasn’t just a teachable moment — it was a four-year curriculum with a Masters in Decorum.

Whether McElwain realized it or not, he was centerstage on ESPN’s camera and the players sort of backed away, putting them both on full public display to the West stands and skyboxes where the Bull Gators sit.

Actually they were three mini-rants wrapped into one.

McElwain accosted the junior running back not once, not twice, but three times as Taylor stood there stoically, taking shots like a defenseless quarterback.

This looked more like a seizure than a rant. And at least the umps had the option of tossing them out of the game.

First there was the umpire’s “you’re out!” move and a thrust downtown with his right hand; then the eyeball to eyeball confrontation with open hands to the side as McElwain’s hair shimmied like it was on a bobblehead. And finally, the pirouette/spin move as he was walking away, followed by a pointed elbow slam-down on an imaginary neck or head, WWE style.

One writer in the press box said it was “Muschamp x 10.”

Another said McElwain “channeled his inner Nick Saban.”

Even mild-mannered Mick Hubert, the voice of the Gators, got into the act with: "We’ve just seen Coach Mac 'lit up' for the first time on the Gators sideline.’’

According to a witness is the West stands, the fans were confused when McElwain came charging back to the bench in search of Taylor, all fired up and highly animated.

“After watching for 15 seconds,” said Luke, sitting 15 rows up, “it was pretty evident Coach Mac wasn’t being positive! Once he started shaking while yelling, the crowd started watching.”

There was at least one mic which picked up audio. OnlyGators.com reported the Florida coach screamed (in a bleeped out version): “Look at me! Don’t look down! F—ing be a man! You let your f—ing team down. That’s f—ing bull——. And you think it’s f—ing OK? F—ing you kidding me.”

Which might also be a team record for a coach using the F Bombs in one rant. Count ‘em — five.

All over the stupid throat-slashing gesture which college football cracked down on years ago because of its street-gang implications.

And committed by an otherwise good citizen who practices hard, plays hard and has bought into the Big Mac way.

The McElChamp rant didn’t end there. The Florida coach carried it over to the locker room where he called the act “embarrassing," saying his team “didn’t deserve to win the game.”

“We've got a long way to go and it starts with the understanding that selfish acts hurt the team, and it will be dealt with. This is not how it's going to be done around here anymore. It's not going to happen. It's not! It was embarrassing. Embarrassing to our administration, embarrassing to the university, and it came back to bite us in the end.”

Having said all that, I can see why something as moronic as Taylor's throat-slashing gesture was so upsetting to a Florida coach who has said time after time that he was going to make fewer penalties a major goal since infractions of this nature do reflect on the culture which McElwain is trying to change.

If nothing else, a player like Taylor, the son of Florida All-American Fred Taylor and part of Gator Royalty, should have known this was not only poor taste and against the rules, but could hurt his team, which it did on the ensuing kickoff. East Carolina took advantage with a touchdown that closed the gap to one score. Then Florida had to hang on just to win.

Frankly, I was surprised to see Taylor back on the field the next series and will be even more surprised if there isn’t more fallout this week.

"It's inexcusable," a steaming McElwain told the media. "If we do that, shoot. It's not the way you play. It's not the way you prepare. It's not the way you give up yourself for the benefit of others. It's a bunch of entitlement. Entitled for what?"

Welcome to the Jim McElwain Era.

However, from the wording of his Tweet, it sounds like Taylor took the tongue-lashing to heart and harbors no ill will:

"Kelvintaylor21: I love coach Mac!!! He's going make me a better person Got nothing , but respect for him! #GatorNation 🐊🐊"

Never mind the teaching moment. Kelvin Taylor now has his PhD.

Editor's Note: Later he apologized with this, but never expressed any regrets: "I'm not proud about it, and neither is my mother," McElwain said Monday at his weekly news conference. "I don't feel good about it. As you know, this is a very public job. This is a public thing that we do. I understand that I have a long ways to go and I make mistakes. ... Am I proud of it? Absolutely not. Do I feel bad about it? Yes. At the same time, I've got to understand my mistakes as well and learn from it and go forward."