In 2013 the Florida Gators went 4-8 under head Coach Will Muschamp and many believed that 2014 was Muschamp’s final shot to impress Gator fans.

Well, Muschamp did not do so great at impressing the Gator faithful. The Gators won their first two games of their 2014 campaign before falling to Alabama.

The loss to Alabama would start s streak in which the Gators loss three of four games. Perhaps the lone bright spot in 2014 was when the Gators upset the then 11 ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the two teams’ annual game.

Two weeks after the victory over the Bulldogs, the Gators blew a lead with under a minute left to South Carolina and the Gamecocks would go on to win in overtime. After the loss to the Gamecocks the University had announced that Will Muschamp would not be returning as head football coach in 2015 for the Gators. And thus the search began.

Many believed that the Gators would go for a high profile coach to interview for the job. Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen, who coached at Florida from 2005 to 2008 and many thought he would return to Florida. Some also wondered if Mississippi coach Hugh Freeze would head to Gainesville, but those rumors were quickly put to rest after he signed an extension with the University of Mississippi.

It was reported earlier in the week that Colorado State Head Coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jim McElwain would be flying to Florida on Wednesday to meet with University athletic director Jeremy Foley about the head coaching vacancy.

On Thursday the University of Florida had announced that McElwain would become the Gators next head coach. Florida would have to buy out the remainder of McElwain’s seven million dollar contract from Colorado State. McElwain’s contract with Florida is set at 3.5 million per year over six years.

Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy who played under McElwain at Alabama tweeted out on Thursday that “Florida fans rejoice. @CoachMcElwain is the real deal and will have tremendous success in Gainesville. Congratulations to Gators everywhere.”

The future does appear bright for the Gators and they return a lot of talent from this year’s team so it will be interesting to see how McElwain fares in his first year at the helm of the Gators in 2015.