GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The search for a new head football coach at Florida will begin immediately after Jim McElwain and the program parted ways on Sunday evening.

Athletics director Scott Stricklin will spearhead the search and does not foresee hiring a search firm, opting instead to rely on advice from trusted peers and fellow administrators both at Florida and elsewhere.

The first premier program to create a coach opening this season, Florida will have a bit of a jump start on its search.

The goal? To find someone that can make Florida football fun again.

"Being in this league for 25 years, when Florida has been really good, from a distance it has looked really fun and I want it to be really fun," Stricklin said. "Our fans, they deserve it to be really fun. I want our players and student-athletes to have a lot of fun, like this is a rewarding experience to come here and get a degree from a top-10 public university and to play at one of the storied football programs in the country."

Does that mean that Florida will definitely hire an offensive head coach to fix the woes on that side of the ball that have existed since Urban Meyer skipped town?

Not necessarily, it just means the Gators have to find the right fit and a guy who can bring Florida back to competing with the elite teams in college football.

"That's got to be rewarding and fun," Stricklin said. "I want it to be fun for our staff. I don't know exactly what that means from an Xs and Ox standpoint but usually good leaders make everybody want to come and be excited to work together and that ends up being a lot of fun."

The bottom line, even though the program parted ways with McElwain for more than just wins and losses, the product on the field was also unacceptable.

It has to look better. Fans can't be going to games like they did Saturday, well aware that a blowout defeat was the most realistic option against key division rival Georgia.

"Your expectation is can we compete with the very best teams in the country, stand on the same field and have a legitimate chance to beat the best teams in the country," Stricklin said. "We do that at every other sport at the University of Florida. I don’t know why this football program, which has done it before, (can't)."

With the recent changes to the college recruiting landscape with the addition of an early signing period that runs from Dec. 20-22, Stricklin did admit there's a bit of a sense of urgency.

He didn't, however, want to set any arbitrary timelines, as searches can be fluid.

"In a perfect world you would have someone in place in time to positively affect the ability to sign players for the early signing period," Stricklin said. "However, we are going to make the best long-term decision for the University of Florida."

The search begins Monday.

Florida will look for the right fit, a combination of character, personality match, a coaching style that fits Florida's traditionally successful mold and a guy that fans can rally behind.

The early jump will allow Stricklin to begin honing in on exactly who that is.

"That’s a hard piece of this. I think fans sometimes look at hiring coaches kind of like you or I might look at going down to Best Buy and buying a 50-inch TV," Stricklin said. "You look at the side of the box and read all the specs and you open up the box and that’s what’s going to be in there. Personnel hirings are not quite like that. You might think you’re getting something, sometimes you don’t know until you get there. But what you can do is you can look for certain traits that lead to successful leaders and so whether it’s hard work, whether it’s character, whether it’s competitiveness, whether it’s their ability to sell to the fans and to recruits.

"These are figure-it-out kind of jobs. Every school is different, every school is unique, every schools has its own set of strengths and challenges. There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to what’s going to be successful at every school. So you have to get somebody who’s smart enough to come in and figure out the puzzle at your particular school."

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