Top 25
2-13
- Games
- 15
- Win rate
- 13.3%
Back to Coaches
Longevity CoachDefense-First
Coach Profile
Jim McElwain
2012-2024 • Central Michigan, Colorado State, Florida
3 schools coached, anchored by Central Michigan.
Jim McElwain's coaching record is 77-64, highlighted by seasons at Central Michigan from 2012 to 2024.
Jim McElwain coached 12 seasons, won 54.6%, and posted an average SRS of -3.8. Best season: 2016 Florida. The profile was defense-first with a highly volatile profile. 3 stints shaped the career arc.
- Career record
- 77-64
- Career win rate
- 54.6%
- Average SRS
- -3.8
- Peak SRS
- 12.4
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 12
- Career span
- 13 years
- Best finish
- #14
- Consistency
- 20.5
Primary school anchor
Central Michigan
Defense-First profile with 3 program stops and a peak score of 67.1.
Quick Answers
Records fans search first
Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.
- Overall record
- 77-64
- Central Michigan record
- 33-36
- Full-season record
- 64-58
- Partial-season record
- 13-6
- Vs AP Top 10
- 1-5
- Vs AP Top 5
- 1-3
- Vs Eastern Michigan
- 4-2
- Postseason / bowl record
- 3-2
- CFP record
- 0-0
- National titles
- 0
141 countable games, 54.6% win rate.
6 countable seasons at Central Michigan.
10 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.
Rows where the coach-season record covers fewer games than the team's completed season.
6 games using AP ranking at game time.
4 games using AP ranking at game time.
Central Michigan-Eastern Michigan games in this dataset.
5 scored postseason games in this dataset.
0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.
Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.
Record definition and data status
Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.
Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.
Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Nov 30, 2024. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Jim McElwain
EliteStrongAverageLean
Jim McElwain: 2015 FloridaJim McElwain: 2019 Central Michigan
2012Actual season year • SRS range -15.5 to 12.42024
Active comparison point
Jim McElwain • 2016
2016 Florida
Best season9-4 • SRS 12.4 • SP Overall 15.4
Win %
69.2%
YoY SRS
+2.7
SP Off / Def
26.6 / 14.0
Finish
#14
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
1-5
- Games
- 6
- Win rate
- 16.7%
Top 5
1-3
- Games
- 4
- Win rate
- 25.0%
View ranked game results15
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Central Michigan
2019-2024 • 6 seasons
Avg SRS -10.5 • Win % 47.8%
Florida
2015-2017 • 3 seasons
Avg SRS 7.1 • Win % 64.7%
Colorado State
2012-2014 • 3 seasons
Avg SRS -3.6 • Win % 57.9%
- Longest tenure
- Central Michigan • 6 seasons
- Best tenure
- Florida • 7.1 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Florida • 64.7%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Jim McElwain sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeJim McElwain sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Jim McElwain
Mixed
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -1.6
- Percentile
- 51th pct
Mixed
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Central Michigan
2019-2024 • 33-36
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -10.5Win % 47.8%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.5 during vs 5.8 baseline
-0.3
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-10.5 during vs -8.2 baseline
-2.3
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-10.9 during vs -8.6 baseline
-2.3
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Florida
2015-2017 • 22-12
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS 7.1Win % 64.7%
Avg wins
Higher is better
9.5 during vs 6.7 baseline
+2.8
Avg SRS
Higher is better
11.1 during vs 11.7 baseline
-0.6
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
14.6 during vs 16.6 baseline
-2.0
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
100.0% during vs 20.0% baseline
+80.0%
Colorado State
2012-2014 • 22-16
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -3.6Win % 57.9%
Avg wins
Higher is better
6.0 during vs 3.8 baseline
+2.2
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-7.0 during vs -10.9 baseline
+3.9
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-3.4 during vs -9.0 baseline
+5.6
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Florida 2016
9-4 • SRS 12.4
Biggest Improvement
Colorado State 2013
8-6 • 12.1 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Colorado State 2014
10-2 • SP Off 33.2
Best Defensive Season
Florida 2016
9-4 • SP Def 14.0
Setbacks
Lowest SRS Season
Central Michigan 2023
5-7 • SRS -15.5
Biggest Drop
Florida 2017
3-4 • -13.3 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Central Michigan | 2024 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | -13.1 | -15.8 | 17.7 | 34.3 | +2.4 | -8.3% | Season summary |
| Central Michigan | 2023 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 41.7% | — | — | -15.5 | -19.1 | 16.8 | 34.0 | -3.3 | +8.3% | Season summary |
| Central Michigan | 2022 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | -12.2 | -14.0 | 19.0 | 32.2 | -6.9 | -35.9% | Season summary |
| Central Michigan | 2021 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.2% | — | — | -5.3 | -1.0 | 28.5 | 29.3 | — | +19.2% | Season summary |
| Central Michigan | 2020 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 50.0% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | -7.1% | Season summary |
| Central Michigan | 2019 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 57.1% | — | — | -6.3 | -4.4 | 26.0 | 29.0 | -5.4 | +14.3% | Season summary |
| Florida | 2017 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 42.9% | #17 | — | -0.9 | 10.1 | 30.8 | 22.4 | -13.3 | -26.4% | Partial season |
| Florida | 2016 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 69.2% | #25 | #14 | 12.4 | 15.4 | 26.6 | 14.0 | +2.7 | -2.2% | Season summary |
| Florida | 2015 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 71.4% | — | #25 | 9.7 | 13.8 | 26.7 | 15.8 | +6.6 | -11.9% | Season summary |
| Colorado State | 2014 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 83.3% | — | — | 3.1 | 4.5 | 33.2 | 29.2 | +4.0 | +26.2% | Partial season |
| Colorado State | 2013 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 57.1% | — | — | -0.9 | 3.0 | 31.8 | 29.5 | +12.1 | +23.8% | Season summary |
| Colorado State | 2012 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 33.3% | — | — | -13.0 | -9.7 | 19.7 | 30.3 | — | — | Season summary |
Similar coaches
Popular comparisons are fan-facing matchups. Statistical comps are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Statistical comps
Doc Holliday
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.1
Avg SRS -3.7 • Peak SRS 14.6 • 11 seasons
Best finish #23 • Volatility 9.2
Open profile →Chuck Mills
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS -2.5 • Peak SRS 10.9 • 11 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.7
Open profile →Frank Lauterbur
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.8
Avg SRS -4.6 • Peak SRS 11.5 • 11 seasons
Best finish #12 • Volatility 10.3
Open profile →Joseph Yukica
same defense-first identity • volatility within 0.1
Avg SRS -1.3 • Peak SRS 12.8 • 14 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 9.0
Open profile →Chuck Stobart
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS -4.2 • Peak SRS 7.9 • 14 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.8
Open profile →Bill Hess
same defense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.5
Avg SRS -5.3 • Peak SRS 7.8 • 16 seasons
Best finish #20 • Volatility 8.8
Open profile →