Texas A&M’s recent history is littered with a variety of coaching hires that haven’t worked out.
Two decades ago, the Aggies hired Alabama’s coach. Sixteen years ago, they hired a former NFL head coach. A dozen years ago, they hired an up-and-comer from the Group of 5. And six years ago, they swung for the fences, hiring a former national championship-winning coach.
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This time, Texas A&M … made a sensible hire. Duke coach Mike Elko, who was the Aggies’ defensive coordinator from 2018 to ’21, will be A&M’s next head coach.
Elko isn’t going to win the press conference on arrival, effuse unlimited charisma or bring a fistful of rings with him. What he will bring is something Texas A&M really needs right now: a smart, organized, disciplined leader who doesn’t view himself as bigger than the program.
The program’s recent decline under Jimbo Fisher, whom the school fired two weeks ago and owes $77 million to, made it clear that something had to change. They had top-flight talent, thanks in large part to Fisher’s recruiting efforts. But they lacked structure, discipline, organization and a clear vision, and Fisher’s teams largely underperformed in the win column as a result.
Some of those tenets went out the door when Elko, among others, departed the program. Multiple people within or close the program lauded Elko for the work he did during his first four years at A&M. One source close to the program said Elko had “a really good sense of discipline and purpose.” An A&M athletic department staffer called Elko “a pro” who ran his defense efficiently on a daily basis.
Elko had plenty of autonomy during his first stint at A&M because Fisher primarily spent time with the offense. He took advantage of the head coach’s absence in a good way.
“It was like two different operations going on at the same time,” the athletic department staffer said. “The defensive staff got along, did a good job with the players, it was a good environment. If you were to go to practice, the defensive side of the field felt and sounded completely differently from the offensive side of the field.”
Since leaving A&M, Elko has acquitted himself well as a first-time head coach. He took over a program that went 10-25 in the three seasons preceding his arrival and went 16-9 in two years, including a 9-4 debut season. He has Duke in a bowl game for the second consecutive year. Only one other coach has taken the Blue Devils to back-to-back bowls in the school’s history: Elko’s predecessor, David Cutcliffe.
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He’s a good, solid football coach at a time Texas A&M really needs one.
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The fact that Elko knows A&M from his four seasons there and has even recruited some of its current players is a plus that will speed up the transition process. If he retains defensive line coach Elijah Robinson, who has served as interim head coach since Fisher’s firing, it could give the Aggies a shot to retain the immense talent it has amassed. Texas A&M entered this season fourth in the nation in 247Sports’ Team Talent Composite rankings, behind only Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State.
Could Elko turn the Aggies into a contender in Year 1? If the roster stays mostly intact, it isn’t out of the question. Look no further than 2022 TCU, where Sonny Dykes arrived with a fresh voice and new approach to an immensely talented team that Gary Patterson had recruited. A new leader and a handful of key transfer portal additions helped the Horned Frogs to go from 5-7 to the national championship game in Dykes’ first season. If Elko could win nine games in his first year at Duke, what could he do with the talent already in College Station?
From the start of Texas A&M’s search, Elko stood out as one of the most logical options. But Saturday, it seemed as if the Aggies may go in a different direction, as reports emerged that Kentucky’s Mark Stoops was the top target. The A&M fan backlash on message boards and social media was substantial. By night’s end, Stoops had posted a statement announcing he’s staying at Kentucky.
How close were the Aggies to hiring Stoops? Did the fan reaction factor into the eventual pivot to Elko? And what would that say about the hiring process and everything that went into the search? Aggieland has historically struggled to maintain administrative stability and alignment over the years, and uncovering the inner workings of the search’s conclusion will be fascinating.
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Making a hire that garnered universal praise was a tough ask for Texas A&M, given the circumstances. When the Aggies decided to pay Fisher $77 million to go away, the end result was sure to be less splashy than the move to hire Fisher was in December 2017.
Yes, Texas A&M is an attractive job for multiple reasons, but landing a big name — like Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Washington’s Kalen DeBoer or even Ohio State’s Ryan Day — was always going to be a long shot, especially given the time constraints. Athletic director Ross Bjork said two weeks ago that the school wanted someone in place before the transfer portal opens on Dec. 4. Many of the names that would have electrified fans either were unattainable or are still competing for this year’s national championship.
Keeping as much of the roster together as possible is paramount. Elko will get that chance by having time this week to meet individually with players before any transfer portal decisions are made, with two exceptions. Freshman receiver Raymond Cottrell and quarterback Max Johnson both utilized the immediate 30-day portal window afforded to players who go through a head coaching change.
In the last 20 years, A&M has tried every other approach in coaching searches. Giving the job to a former Texas A&M defensive coordinator may not be the sexiest move, but it’s definitely a sensible one. It certainly has worked before in College Station, when the Aggies elevated R.C. Slocum to the top job after Jackie Sherrill resigned in 1989. Slocum went on to win more games than any other coach in school history, with four conference championships.
Regardless of the path this time, the end result made sense.
— The Athletic‘s Max Olson contributed reporting.
(Photo: Daniel Dunn / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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