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Texas A&M DC Mike Elko explains why he turned down HC opportunity to stay with Aggies
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Texas A&M DC Mike Elko has quickly climbed the ladder from being considered an “up-and-coming” coordinator to an assistant ready for a head coaching gig of his own.
After the Aggies defense impressed in 2018, athletic directors with head-coaching vacancies had Elko on their radar. Elko was notably in the running to replace Geoff Collins at Temple. At Elko’s fall camp press conference on Sunday, a reporter asked the second-year defensive coordinator why he stayed at Texas A&M. Elko started his response with a rhetorical question.
“What isn’t (there to like) about (Texas A&M)?” Elko asked.
It’s safe to say he’s happy in College Station. In fact, he absolutely loves his current situation.
“Love the school. Love everything that it stands for. Love coach Fisher, the program he’s building. Love the guys we have in the locker room. Love the guys we brought in. Love the community. Love the fanbase,” Elko said to answer both the reporter’s question and his own.
“This place is special. And I think making the decision to come down here, making the decision to stay – I think everything in that regard has kind of backed that up,” he added.
Elko boosted the Texas A&M defense in 2018 and earlier this year the school gave him a few more reasons – 300,000 more reasons – to be happy in College Station. Elko is set to make $2.1 million for the 2019 season.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
