Jim McElwain got the last word. It seems the coach, despite an ugly ending to his career at the University of Florida, has a great heart.
Jim McElwain, the former head coach for the University of Florida, was the butt of many jokes last year after his bizarre behavior and unceremonious firing by the school. To wit, the coach made a series of statements that people had made death threats against him and his family. This was only a few months after a picture of his doppelganger surfaced, showing a McElwain lookalike in an inappropriate, naked embrace with a dead shark.
Even after the firing, the rumor mill and the Twitter-verse fired up again, poking fun at the coach for taking a huge loss on the sale of his Gainesville home.
I must admit that I did enjoy a few guffaws at his expense, mostly because of his affiliation with Florida, but it turns out the coach is a heck of a nice guy.
For those of you that are behind on your college football lore, the former Florida head coachtook a huge loss on the sale of his home in Gainesville, Fla. The sports media and the trolls jumped all over it and the inevitable jokes started.
There is actually a noble reason the coach took a bath on the sale of his house. The family that bought the home have two disabled kids — one in a wheelchair — and the house has wide hallways, a ramp, and a lift which made it ideal for the family’s needs. The converted garage will be an apartment for their disabled son. Their real estate agent, Daurine Wehbe, told the Tampa-Bay Times: ”Because the McElwains have a good heart. No one knows that. No one appreciates that.”
The home’s new owners, the Staab family, have two children with dystonia — brother Tyler, 20, and sister Samantha, 17 — Tyler is in a wheelchair. Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder that causes muscles of the body to contract involuntarily. It can range from severe, in Tyler’s case, to moderate in Samantha’s.
Rick Staab, the family patriarch, had seen the home at a charity dinner, and knew then that it would have been perfect for his family. Once the home went on sale, Staab instantly made an offer. The McElwains turned the offer down at first, but once they found out who wanted to buy the home they agreed to the Staab’s asking price without regret. They took a $400,000 hit on the home, but they did it to help a family in need.
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So before we jump on the bandwagon to laugh at McElwain, remember that head coach isn’t the only highlight on his resume. He managed to transcend the mess of his coaching career at Florida, and left the state a hero in one family’s eyes.
McElwain will always have a fan in Rick Staab.