Mike Elko used New Year’s Day as a fitting stage to announce multiple changes to his coaching staff for the 2026 season.
The 2025 season was a memorable one for Texas A&M and for Elko, who led the Aggies to the College Football Playoff. But in the aftermath of a disappointing first-round Playoff loss to Miami, Texas A&M is looking for even better things this fall, and Elko is making tweaks to his staff toward that end.
Both changes involve the offensive side of the ball and neither one is a new hire. Instead, both are promotions. First, it’s John Perry, who has been elevated from assistant wide receivers coach to the full-time responsibility of the Aggies’ wideout room. He will now be the full-fledged wide receivers coach going forward.
The 2nd change by Mike Elko for the 2026 season involves Joey Lynch, who is being promoted from senior offensive analyst to the Aggies’ quarterbacks coach.
Lynch has been an offensive coordinator at the FCS level for 9 years and has just under two decades of coaching experience in all.
Meanwhile, Elko and Perry will continue a proud coaching history together. Texas A&M is the 2nd program that the two coaches have worked together at, with Elko and Perry also coaching on the same staff at Hofstra in 2006. Perry was the offensive coordinator while Elko was the defensive coordinator at Hofstra all those years ago.
Two decades later, the Perry-Elko partnership is still going strong in College Station.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
