Florida head coach Jim McElwain apologized Monday for a sideline outburst Saturday in which he dressed down running back Kelvin Taylor, the son of former Jacksonville Jaguars star Fred Taylor, for a making throat-slashing gesture that resulted in a 15-yard penalty.
"I'm not proud of it and neither is my mother, 94 years old, I got an earful from her, and rightfully so," McElwain said. "... I don't feel good about it. This is a very public job, a public thing we do. I have a long ways to go and I make mistakes. I've got to make sure that, whatever it is, we can't hurt ourselves."
Translation: Taylor deserved to be put in his place, but McElwain would go about it a different way if he had to do it again.
Still, McElwain's regret doesn't mean a message to Taylor isn't being sent. Taylor will reportedly be bumped to third on the team's depth chart, behind a pair of freshmen, for this week's game against Kentucky.
The tirade in question was a popular item on social media over the weekend:
Fred Taylor appeared on the Dan Le Batard Show Monday to express his thoughts.
"I thought it was a little bit of an overreaction, but I do understand coaching," the older Taylor said. "He got caught up in a celebration that his old man used to do. I throat-slashed many times. I've even gotten fined for it. He understands that he made, as coach called it, a selfish act. ... In that particular situation, he has to be a smarter player."
In his postgame remarks, McElwain hadn't calmed down much, despite a 31-24 win over East Carolina.
Kelvin Taylor, for his part, issued support for his coach via Twitter.
The tirade was out of character for McElwain, at least in terms of public perception. He's known to be easygoing, even-keeled and his temper wasn't thought to have had much of a red zone, until Saturday. His background as an assistant, in fact, is often described as part offensive coordinator, part quarterback whisperer.
However, Taylor was definitely no quarterback on Saturday, and McElwain was hardly whispering.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
