Florida Michigan Line

[Barney Reinberg]

Jim McElwain

There was an interesting side story with the Peach Bowl game between The University of Michigan and The University of Florida. It had to do with the coaching “musical chairs” that played out weeks before the game. First, there is coach Jim McElwain. McElwain was the head coach at Florida from 2015 until mid-way thru the 2017 season. After his firing, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh reached out to him and McElwain became the receivers coach at Michigan. Second, came to firing of Central Michigan coach John Bonamego. After suffering its worst season in CMU history, Bonamego was fired after four years.

John Bonamego

Now, CMU is in the market for a new coach. It did not take long for Central Michigan to settle on a new head coach. Former Florida head coach and current receiver coach at Michigan Jim McElwain. McElwain stepped down just as Michigan was preparing for its bowl game.
With McElwain gone, Michigan must have felt they needed another coach for Bowl game preparation. They hired John Bonamego as a Bowl game consultant. It’s difficult to predict if Bonamego stays on the Michigan staff. Harbaugh indicated that he did not anticipate any new hires. That was after the bowl game. Not sure if Bonamego consulting job ended when the clock struck 00:00. Just an interesting side note to the game, I thought.

[XLFD]

After Bonamego's 1-11 season at CMU, and Michigan's drubbing by Florida, he would be rather lucky to be a receiver's coach at a much less prestigious school.  McElwain won over 60% of his games with Florida and Colorado State, going to 3 bowls and winning two, turning those programs from mediocre into 9 win seasons after coming in after mediocre seasons led to the dismissal of the previous coach.  He's underutilized as a receiver's coach-- even at Michigan under Harbaugh.