GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After a tense last few weeks between Florida and Auburn, with Will Muschamp battling the Gators for several of their top prospects after being fired, Florida athletics director Jeremy Foley spoke to the unique circumstances surrounding Jim McElwain's first signing day at Florida.

While Muschamp's efforts helped land Auburn some key prospects like Byron Cowart, Ryan Davis, Jeffery Holland, Mike Horton and Javarius Davis, Foley said Florida can't worry about that.

"First of all, that's a one-year conversation," Foley said. "I get the angst that causes. At the end of the day, we terminated Will. It's not like he moved on on his own. We terminated his contract and said that we need to go a different direction.

"He's free to work. He's free to go get a job. He's free to do his job. I imagine Auburn recruited some of those guys before he got up there, and Will's a good recruiter. But also so is Jim McElwain. What he did on signing day, what he did a couple days prior to signing day, we're all fine. I get it. It's good conversation. It's angst. But we terminated Will's contract. He's free to go make a living like everybody else."

Some of the angst from Florida fans comes from the structure of Muschamp's contract. Despite being fired, he still collects a nearly $6.3 million buyout from the Gators.

That Florida is paying him that much not to coach, only to see him pull some top targets from the Gators that he recruited while on their dime, is infuriating to many fans.

But Foley said that's just part of the deal when signing highly sought-after coaches, which Muschamp was in 2011 when the Gators hired him.

"I'm not really hung up on that," Foley said. "I know some people are. Will didn't work at all, we're still paying him the same amount of money. That's the world we live in. This is high-stakes, this is the big leagues. These coaches have a tough job. These coaches are in demand.

"When you negotiate contracts for them, that's part of the deal sometimes. I'm not really worried about that. I also expected Will to coach here a long time, as I expect Mac to be here a long time."

Foley reiterated he is extremely confident in the direction the program is going under McElwain in just two short months.

"Certainly feel good about where we're headed," he said. "There's a real positive vibe around the football program. You think about signing day, I think it was last Wednesday, that was two months to the day we announced his hire.

"He came in here and put a staff together, those guys were on the road for two, two and a half weeks, and look what they did in recruiting. I think that shows you where this program is headed."