For Florida football, love is in the air.
Or more importantly UF athletics director Jeremy Foley was in the air to Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport in Colorado, according to reports.
Sunday night, Yahoo! Sports reported that Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain was the leading candidate for the vacant Florida head coaching job and had spoken to Foley the night before.
At 1:45 P.M Tuesday, OnlyGators.com first reported that Foley was on a plane “which is believed to be owned by a Florida booster and used by the University Athletic Association, took off from Gainesville Regional Airport…”
According to the website FlightAware.com, a plane with the tail number N843DW departed Jacksonville Executive airport at 11:43 A.M. and arrived in Gainesville at 12:02 P.M. That plane then made a stop in Joplin, Missouri for 28 minutes en route to Fort Collins, landing at 5:01 P.M.
Per flightaware, the plane is registered to William Victor Aviation LTD, a Jacksonville based aviation company and is a double engine CESSNA with nine seats.
William Victor Aviation’s Principal Partner is a man named Jerry Davis, Jr. according to Davis’ linkedin page. He has been with the company since January 2000.
According to the Florida Times-Union, Davis’ father — who is now deceased — gave a $21 million gift to the University of Florida for cancer research in 2009, $20 million of which was used to create the Jerry W. and Judith S. Davis Cancer Endowment, the remainder was put towards the Shands Cancer hospital.
Fort Collins-Loveland cited privacy as a reason for not disclosing to alligatorSports who was on plane N843DW as it was en route, and multiple requests for comment for William Victor Aviation were not returned.
McElwain has a 22-16 career record in three seasons at Colorado State. The Rams are 10-2 this season.
He was named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year on Tuesday and his starting quarterback Garrett Grayson was named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year as well.
Under McElwain, the Rams have improved every year winning four, eight and now 10 games in the years he’s coached.
Foley said in the press conference following the announcement of Muschamp’s stepping down that he wanted a coach who had a track record of offensive success.
"I think obviously that’s what the Gator Nation wants and we see that and that’s what we’re certainly going to try to provide for them," Foley said on Nov. 17. "You’ve heard me talk about it before, make sure it’s a fit for the University of Florida."
McElwain certainly fits that criteria.
But his success traces back further than his time as head coach at Colorado State.
Following a one-year stint at Fresno State as the quarterbacks coach in 2007 where he improved their numbers significantly, McElwain was hired by Nick Saban to be the Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2008 — he remained at Alabama for four seasons.
He coached two first-year starting quarterbacks who eventually went on to finish their careers in Alabama school record books — Greg McElroy in 2009 and A.J. McCarron in 2011.
While McElwain was on staff, the Crimson Tide compiled a record of 48-6, and also led the nation committing only 57 turnovers on offense under his tenure.
Florida committed 30 turnovers during the 2014 season alone.
In 2011, Alabama led the SEC in rushing at 219.8 yards per game, ranked second in total offense at 433.4 total yards per contest and third in scoring at 36 points per game.
McElwain was hired by Colorado State after his 2011 season at Alabama. Currently his Rams offense ranks 13th in total offense, seventh in passing offense, 25th in scoring offense, seventh on third down conversion percentage and 54th in red zone scoring offense.
Foley previously stated that he would like to make the hire sometime before Christmas.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF, follow Morgan Moriarty on Twitter @Morgan_Moriarty
Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain directs his team against Air Force in the fourth quarter of Air Force's 27-24 victory in an NCAA college football game at Air Force Academy, Colo., on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014.
