10 college football coaches who were better off as big fish in little ponds

6. Jim McElwain

Like the rest of the coaches on this list, Jim McElwain had to put in the work to earn his first head coaching job at Colorado State.

The Rams were not in a good spot when he took over and he turned them into a 10-win team in three years. He went 22-16 and was one of the hottest names on the market after the 2014 season and Florida took a chance on him. Right away, he had success with a 10-4 record and then went 9-4 the next season but it felt like the Gators plateaued a bit and then they went 3-4 in 2017. While his record at Florida was 22-12, he was 12-8 in his final two years and 9-6 in SEC play.

McElwain was fired mid-season in 2017 and then took the receivers coaching job at Michigan before getting hired at Central Michigan where he won eight games in his first season and then nine two years later.

While Central Michigan has since taken a step back, it's clear that he was better suited to coach in the Group of Five than he was at Florida -- his record with the Gators was deceiving.