We are so pleased to welcome a new alumna to town: Karen McElwain!
Yes, "Mrs. Coach McElwain" for the Gators is an Alpha Chi Omega.
Their two daughters from Alpha Upsilon chapter also share the lifelong bond of sisterhood!
We cannot wait to enjoy the society of our sister(s) in Gainesville and share the Gator Nation love!
Go Gators: Beat New Mexico State!
***
The trappings were similar. NFL stadium. Big city. The feeling in Karen
McElwain's gut was similar too. Maybe it should have been. The tension was just
as high.
National championship last January versus her husband's head coaching debut
Saturday.
"I'm really not that nervous," she said before her husband, Jim,
debuted as Colorado State's head coach at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
"There's been a lot of excitement leading up to this. Normally when I'm
calm there's good results."
Quick. Someone bottle Karen McElwain's gut feeling.
Her premonition came true. Her husband of 25 years, best friend for 28, beat
Colorado 22-17 and became the first CSU coach to win his first game since 1970.
From his first job as a quarterbacks and receivers coach at Eastern
Washington in 1985, Jim McElwain has waited for a day like Saturday. So has
everyone who knew him as the charismatic, down-to-earth Montanan who loved
nothing more than sitting around his lake cabin with friends.
So many were here for his head coaching debut: Dave Whittle, who coached
with him at Eastern Washington and now lives in Loveland; Nathan Emmons, the
McElwains' babysitter on their rare date nights as an assistant at Montana
State; Pete McCartney, security guard for then-head coach John L. Smith when
McElwain assisted him at Louisville.
They all remembered him. That's because McElwain, even while helping Alabama
win two of the last three national titles as offensive coordinator, never
forgot them.
"The great thing about the McElwains is no matter where I went or
anybody that they know has gone, Jim always makes that phone call to stay in
touch," said Whittle, an executive with the Norwegian wood stove company
Jotul. "He's that kind of a person. He's a good man. Just out of the blue.
Like he kind of goes big time. He's down in Alabama. He doesn't want to hear
from me. I'm not coaching anymore. Boom! There's a call from Coach Mac. Just,
'Hey, I just want to say hi.' "
For the past few days leading to Saturday, McElwain went into game mode. He
was coaching against the same Jon Embree who got the Colorado job McElwain
interviewed for two years ago. His wife was in game mode too. She has spent
time talking to the players who have been the lifeblood of her husband's
career.
The couple still remember Super Bowl XXXIX when Deion Branch, his old
receiver when he was a receivers coach at Louisville from 2000-02, called him
from the Patriots' locker room. Branch just wanted some words from his old
mentor to calm him down before the biggest game of his life.
Branch went out and won the Super Bowl MVP award.
These Rams didn't need that reassurance. Despite coming off three straight
3-9 seasons and being 6½-point underdogs, the Rams were ready.
"They said they've never been as prepared as they are now," Karen
said. "They're very calm and believe in what Coach Mac has told them. That
is if every play you're doing your best and follow through with every play,
you're going to win."
True to his word, CSU won enough plays to win the game. As the gun sounded,
reserve linebacker Jedidiah Teofilo lifted McElwain in a bearhug. McElwain took
the Centennial Cup and handed it to his roaring players as they celebrated in
front of their rollicking fans.
Long after his last interview, after his last words to his wide-eyed team,
McElwain emerged from the locker room. Waiting for him were Karen and their
three kids: Hanna, a senior at Alabama where she works for the sports
information department; Lizzi, her Alpha Chi Omega sorority sister and
sophomore at Alabama; and Jerret, a junior linebacker at Fort Collins' Rocky
Mountain High.
His tie undone, his smile as big as the Rams' future, he hugged his old
buds, Whittle and Emmons, like they were longtime assistants. They were all
headed to the McElwains' house later that night for a little celebration.
Then he did something odd.
"Here," he said to his family, "I have your gum."
He handed a stick of gum to his three beaming kids and Karen. This is the
postgame tradition he loves the most. It began when Hanna was born in 1990.
Before each game, he writes the name of his kids on three pieces of gum. On
another he writes the name of his late father, Frank, a high school coach and
principal in Montana. He carries the gum in his pocket during every game and
afterward hands the three sticks to his kids.
He hands the one with his father's name to Karen.
"All the hours you put in, all the time you put in, you realize what
it's for and what it's about," McElwain said. "It's about my
family."
Then he and his family were gone. A rich past has turned into an even richer
present.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299, jhenderson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnhendersondp
