Talking about confidence? Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is shooting for the stars. In a recent interview, Elko said, “Where this program is going? It’s pointed to the sky…Retention is a big part of it… We are proud of keeping all of our coaches and 16 starters.” Maybe he is going to be need of some moral boost after all, the reality is to be seen putting down the rose-tinted glasses.
Last season, they painted a picture-perfect 7-game winning streak. But at the end wrapped up with an 8-5 record. To Dan Wetzel, Elko is running on borrowed time. As he stated, “You might want to beat him. But next year, I think you know the real judgment comes in year three.” But a former Texas A&M coach won’t allow anyone to rain on Elko’s parade. Dave Clawson counts high on the Aggies’ future under Elko.
The present Texas A&M head coach worked under Clawson for 12 seasons at Wake Forest, serving as the defensive coordinator. It was now time for Elko’s old connection to share a few words about him. Clawson got invited on the August 15th episode of the TexAgs podcast. Asked to comment on Aggies’ future with Elko on the driver’s wheel, Clawson commented, “Well, I would say Mike has vision and Mike knows what he wants it to look like and taking those incremental steps with the big picture always in mind.”
It has not been a year since Clawson wrapped up his head coaching career on December 16, 2024. Even being removed from football for the past few months, he never took time to find the right words to say about Elko, with whom his bond dates back 20-plus years. The former Wake Forest head coach claps the loudest for Elko, highlighting his coaching history in storied programs.
“Mike was part of the rebuild at Richmond, the rebuild at Bowling Green, the rebuild at Wake Forest, and then he went to Notre Dame and flipped their defense in one year. And then what he did at Duke was one of the best coaching jobs in the ACC in the past decade. And so, you know, there is a history of success,” stated Clawson. Elko served as the defensive coordinator for head coach Clawson at Bowling Green from 2009-13.
Under him, Duke finished 9-4 complete with a bowl victory over UCF in the Military Bowl. As he served as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame in 2017, he helped the Fighting Irish finish with a 10-3 win, defeating LSU in the Citrus Bowl. Now that he is at Texas A&M, he knows how the burden is already big as he fills in the hot seat left by Jimbo Fisher. But the fact that Elko has worked with Fisher while serving as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, he has got an idea of what went wrong for his predecessor.
On that note, Clawson said, “All of us want to win every game every year, but you know, I think Mike knows how to fit the different pieces of the puzzle together to not just have success short-term, but to have long-term success…Mike was so attracted to the Texas A&M job as he knew the job would be there with Jimbo. And he knows what the commitment level is, and I think he also embraces what the expectations are. He doesn’t shy away from that.” Now, what is Texas A&M’s former quarterback saying?
Texas A&M alum adds his two cents on Mike Elko’s stint
The 2024 season has been somewhat of a dud for Elko’s squad. Thanks to their defensive blunders. They ended up ranking 91st of 134 FBS teams in pass defense, giving up an average of 232.2 yards per game. That left Elko frustrated. Texas A&M insider Cater Karels shared on the Cover 3 Podcast, “I would implore everyone to rewatch that postgame USC press conference because Mike Elko, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him that mad, where I mean he was saying they don’t know how to play zone coverage, they don’t know what they’re doing back there.”
This was then doubled down by Johnny Manziel, too. After all, the fans are still not over how Elko’s boys went on reverse gear towards the end of the season. “Feeling good about my Aggies this year, to be honest. Last year, obviously, towards the end of the season, I don’t think it went exactly the way we wanted it to. Showed some promise. One of those seasons where you get off to a decent start, you’re sitting there, you know, five and two, six and two, and then you have a stumble on the way home,” shared the former Aggies quarterback. Elko’s program was broken down to specks of dust.
Auburn handed them a 41-43 defeat, and, they lost to Texas 7-17. Then things turned left for the Aggies when they faced USC and got crushed by the Trojans 31-35. Now all A&M fans must remember the Las Vegas Bowl mishap, as it went horribly wrong. The Aggies had taken a 24-7 lead in the third quarter. But things soon turned awry. Elko’s boys allowed USC to score four touchdowns over the final 10 minutes of the game. Among them, with only eight seconds left on the clock, the Trojans gifted Aggies a touchdown. Come 2025, Elko must prove he’s solved the riddles that kept tripping his team up.
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