Source: Florida Gators hit snag in pursuit of CSU's Jim McElwain

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:58 p.m. ET

Bruce Feldman

While there's still a chance Jim McElwain ends up as Florida's next head coach, the Gators' search has taken some bizarre twists in the time since Jeremy Foley boarded a plane to Colorado Tuesday, and now things appear more uncertain than they did before the AD touched down in Fort Collins.

Both sides had been trying to close on the deal, which they expected to happen, sources say, but the snag is CSU is holding firm on McElwain's $7.5 million buyout, and Florida doesn't want to pay the entire amount.

And unless CSU president Tony Frank opts to lower the buyout, Foley and the Gators likely will have to move in a new direction in their search, perhaps as early as by end of day Thursday, according to a source.

In the summer Frank had agreed that he would reduce, or even wave entirely, the buyout clause if McElwain was offered a "dream job," as former CSU AD Jack Graham confirmed to The Coloradoan on Tuesday. However, now that is not the case.

"How can (Frank) explain to people back there why he walked away from $7.5 million?" said a source Thursday morning.

Foley and UF officials met with McElwain and his wife, Karen, at their home in Fort Collins for two days before flying back to Florida on Wednesday night. Pictures of Foley photographed inside the McElwains home went viral. The UF athletic department's official twitter feed even had comments and playfully posted a picture from inside the plane and Foley provided a comment.

"We've had very productive conversations with Coach McElwain and his wife Karen and those continue," Foley said.

Bruce Feldman is a senior college football reporter and columnist for FOXSports.com and FOX Sports 1. He is also a New York Times Bestselling author. His new book, The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks, came out in October, 2014. Follow him on Twitter @BruceFeldmanCFB.