Florida asks Jim McElwain to accept less than $12.76M buyout

— -- GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida?officials are meeting with Jim McElwain on Sunday and have asked him to accept less than his $12.76 million buyout and step down as the Gators' coach.

A Florida source told ESPN that McElwain has not been fired, despite reports, and that McElwain, athletic director Scott Stricklin and others were still meeting Sunday afternoon.

The news comes a day after another tough result for the unranked Gators (3-4, 3-3 SEC), who were dismantled 42-7 by No. 3 Georgia (8-0, 5-0) on Saturday in Jacksonville for their third straight loss.

McElwain, who was hired in December 2014, has a 22-12 record and won the SEC Eastern Division in back-to-back seasons, becoming the first SEC coach to make it to the SEC championship game in each of his first two seasons.

His 19 wins entering the 2017 season were the second most by any SEC coach in 2015 and '16. Those 19 wins tied Steve Spurrier for the second-most victories by a Florida coach in his first two seasons.

On Saturday, sources told ESPN that the school was discussing whether it could fire McElwain with cause.

After failing to find any evidence to substantiate claims made by McElwain last week that his family and players received death threats, Florida administrators were working to see whether, if the allegations were false, that would be enough to relieve the university from paying his full buyout of $12.76 million if he were to be fired.