Jim McElwain
Followed John Bonamego. Jim McElwain held Central Michigan at Regional Program III for 6 seasons.
Career arc
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Blue Blood in his 4th career season — faster than 43% of the 100 FBS coaches who have ever reached Blue Blood (rank #52 of 100 by seasons-to-arrival).
Style position and drift
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
The big-game ledger
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
12–10 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Chuck Martin.
His own effect, isolated
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Coaching career
7th-best Central Michigan tenure of 10 by the numbers.
Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.
Followed John Bonamego (2015–2018) · succeeded by Matt Drinkall (2025–2026).
| Season | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | |||||||
| Record | 8–6 | 3–3 | 9–4 | 4–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | — | W bowl | — | — | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #104 | #123 | #86 | #84 | #91 | #106 | |
| Style — pass rate | |||||||
| Pass rate | 47.5 | 40.0 | 46.3 | 46.7 | 41.6 | 40.3 | |
| Coordinators | |||||||
| OC | Charlie Frye | Charlie Frye | Kevin Barbay | Paul Petrino | Paul Petrino | Jim Chapin | |
| DC | Robb Akey | Robb Akey | Robb Akey | Robb Akey | Robb Akey | Robb Akey | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | |||||||
| Offense | 63 | 44 | 56 | 28 | 42 | 21 | |
| Defense | 64 | 64 | 70 | 58 | 8 | 46 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | |||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 46.7 | 39.6 | 43.5 | 39.2 | 41.1 | 36.7 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 34.1 | 27.0 | 39.3 | 44.4 | 38.8 | 33.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 46.5 | 45.2 | 35.7 | 52.3 | 40.6 | 48.6 | |
Barely touches the portal — recruits and develops his own.
Brings in bigger-than-position-typical players than most.
A typical class-year mix of incoming transfers.
6 NFL Draft picks: Sean Bunting (2019), Xavier Crawford (2019), Luke Goedeke (2022), Bernhard Raimann (2022), Lew Nichols III (2023), Donte Kent (2025)
5th-best Florida tenure of 22 by the numbers.
Underperforms his recruiting talent on offense and outperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Will Muschamp (2011–2014) · succeeded by Dan Mullen (2018–2021).
| Season | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 10–4 | 9–4 | 1–3 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | W bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #21 | #12 | #11 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | 44.3 | 47.6 | 43.8 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | Doug Nussmeier | Doug Nussmeier | Doug Nussmeier | |
| DC | Geoff Collins / Randy Shannon | Geoff Collins / Randy Shannon | Randy Shannon / Chris Rumph | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | 25 | 8 | 43 | |
| Defense | 89 | 99 | 60 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | 47.3 | 47.1 | 41.3 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 43.0 | 42.2 | 33.3 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 32.5 | 23.1 | 29.4 | |
28 NFL Draft picks: Dante Fowler Jr. (2015), D.J. Humphries (2015), Chaz Green (2015), Matt Jones (2015), Max Garcia (2015), Neiron Ball (2015), Andre Debose (2015), Trent Brown (2015) + 20 more
7th-best Colorado State tenure of 18 by the numbers.
Followed Steve Fairchild (2008–2011) · succeeded by Mike Bobo (2015–2019).
| Season | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||
| Record | 4–8 | 8–6 | 10–2 | |
| Postseason | — | — | L bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | — | — | #86 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||
| Pass rate | — | — | 50.7 | |
| Coordinators | ||||
| OC | — | — | Dave Baldwin | |
| DC | — | — | Marty English / Al Simmons | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||
| Offense | — | — | 89 | |
| Defense | — | — | 20 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||
| 1st-down pass% | — | — | 45.2 | |
| Red-zone pass% | — | — | 35.5 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | — | — | 25.9 | |
4 NFL Draft picks: Weston Richburg (2014), Crockett Gillmore (2014), Ty Sambrailo (2015), Garrett Grayson (2015)