Social Media Reacts to Texas A&M Aggies' Plans to Hire Mike Elko as Head Football Coach

The Texas A&M Aggies moved on from Jimbo Fisher after a big win over Mississippi State. Two weeks later, they bring back one of their own in Duke head coach Mike Elko.

Timm Hamm | Nov 26, 2023

In this story:

Texas A&M Aggies

The Aggies moved on from Jimbo Fisher after a big win over Mississippi State. Two weeks later, they bring back one of their own in Duke head coach Mike Elko.

Less than 24 hours after a deal fell through to bring Mark Stoops to College Station, the Aggies decided to bring in former A&M defensive coordinator Elko. Elko was with the Aggies under Fisher and was extremely effective from 2018-2021 and turned the Texas A&M defense back into a feared unit.

The Aggies went 34-14 with Elko at the defensive helm, including a 9-1 Orange Bowl campaign in the 2020 season. Following Elko's departure, A&M went 12-12 the following two seasons.

Elko left in 2022 to take over the head job at Duke and led the Blue Devils to an impressive 9-4 season, a program best since 2014. Elko and the Blue Devils dealt with injuries in 2023, including losing starting quarterback Riley Leonard.

Reactions on social media are - as expected- mixed at best, and comparisons are already being made between Stoops and Elko.

I like Mike Elko and think he’s a quality coach. But other than having #TAMU ties he’s been like Stoops at Kentucky. He took an impossible job and made it respectable. It’s not a condemnation of his hire for the #Aggies, but just a point that the Stoops ire was misplaced.
— Josh Knegendorf (@joshk70) November 26, 2023

And there is lots of unwarranted doubt that Elko can improve the Aggies.

Should get the back to standard. Likely improve to 8-4 under Elko.
— Chris Landry (@chris_m_landry) November 26, 2023

Solid hire, defense will be stout. Not a homerun hire though. Doubt this catapults the program where they want to go.
— ホワイトタイガ (@KanjiToraa) November 26, 2023

hmmmm. Idk. Seems lateral to me. Dukes offense was never explosive but they played fairly decent defense. Sounds exactly like A&M to me. But Elko seemed to develop his players better. Should be interesting.
— Caleb M (@MoiseKnees) November 26, 2023

The hire also caused a lot of confusion among outsiders not familiar with the SEC or Aggies football.

Aggies are going to have to tell me why Mike Elko would make a better hire than Mark Stoops. Because these are really the 2 candidates you had to choose from.
— University of Tampering (@Doc_Texas) November 26, 2023

But Aggies fans are largely on board with this move, but maybe not all the steps it took to get here.

I REALLY like this move for the #Aggies.

Mike Elko is already well acquainted with College Station from his tenure at A&M as their DC from 2018-2021. He had some big upsets during his two seasons at Duke.

Congratulations. https://t.co/Lg3Nf65CDi
— Michael Zimmelman (@MZimmel) November 26, 2023

For the record, I'm very pleased that @AggieFootball is bringing Mike Elko back. 👍Gig'em!#coachelko #Aggies #MikeElko #aggiefootball #TexasAM
— Tiffany Marshall (@the_grapevine) November 26, 2023

In the end, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, just like it didn't when Jimbo was pried away from Florida State. In his two seasons at Duke, Elko went 16-9 including nine wins in 2022. It was Duke's third nine-win season since ... 1941.

Mike Elko was the right hire.