Was New Coach Mike Elko First Choice For Texas A&M Aggies? AD Ross Bjork Gives Vague Answer

Was Mike Elko the first choice for the Texas A&M Aggies as their new head coach? Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork had a vague answer

On Saturday night, fans of Texas A&M Aggies football were under the impression that Mark Stoops was going to be the head coach after widespread reports indicated that he would be leaving Kentucky for College Station.

However, by the time the fans woke up the next morning, that was no longer the case, with reports indicating that the Texas A&M Board of Regents had pulled the plug on Stoops at the buzzer.

Not long after that, Mike Elko was named the Texas A&M head coach.

Which, of course, begs the question - was Elko the Aggies' first choice to lead the program?

Well, Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork didn't really specify at Elko's introductory press conference.

Elko

"These things are fluid," Bjork replied. "And again, when you get down to crunch time, I felt that if we had the right group of finalists, I think this weekend was critical to get things done. We were done playing."

According to Bjork, the Aggies interviewed over 30 candidates in the two weeks that the search spanned. That said, he obviously did not reveal any of the other candidates that they spoke to - nor should he have. 

That said, its reasonable to assume that Stoops was one of those choices - as even he himself was reportedly under the impression that he landed the job - as well as UTSA's Jeff Traylor.

Of course, Elko did indeed end up being that choice, and whether or not he was first on the list, he now has a chance to prove why he should have been from the beginning.

"Coach Elko was on our list from the very beginning," Bjork said. "And as the process unfolded, as the identity of what we really, really wanted and we thought was the right DNA of a program that wins, he obviously rose to the top."

Texas A&M Hiring of Mike Elko Was Always The Right Move