Fans Get Warm Introduction To Mike Elko Through The Aggie Football Hour

Coach Mike Elko shook everyone's hand he possibly could. You might have thought he was seeking political office,

Jul 18, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

On Wednesday night, Aggies fans got to get up close and personal with new Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko.

In fact, Elko worked the room similar to the way he works the sidelines. He takes charge, shows respect, and gets what he wants.

His first words to Aggieland made the faithful feel right at home. He certainly is more personable and affable than his predecessor.

Jul 18, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

“I’ve got to go, ‘Howdy’ to the room,” Elko said. “I appreciate everybody coming out tonight. This will be forever the first radio show I do as the Texas A&M head football coach, so I appreciate everybody coming out tonight and everyone that’s listening out there.”

This came after he shook everyone's hand walking to his table, according to ktbx.com.

After the introduction, Elko was ready to talk about the game on Saturday against No. 7 Notre Dame and his former quarterback at Duke, Riley Leonard.

Elko said he is going to have a lot of Aggie fans at the game against the Fighting Irish. He is expecting a lot of community support. Attendance is going to be significant. They are expecting it to be the second-largest crowd ever at Kyle Field.

"We are going 107, 108 (thousand fans) this weekend, the students are fired up," Elko said. "We brought them pizza last night and they are really ready to go."

He said it would be difficult to game plan against Leonard, who knows a lot of Elko's moves and formations.

"I have not gone into too many games where the other quarterback knows what we do," Elko said. "We have to make sure we give them different looks. He knows what we do and how we do it. We have to make sure we give them different looks.

Elko then talked about the lack of turnover of the roster from the previous regime. He also chatted a bit about how he sold the program to his existing players and convinced them to stay. He wanted them to buy what he had to offer. He made a promise that it would be worth them staying in College Station.

The players obviously bought in. For the most part they stayed.

“We don’t talk a ton about the past, but when we got here, there were a lot of kids that had kind of gotten in their mind after the last two years that this wasn’t the right place for them anymore, and, you know, for whatever that reason was,” Elko said. “I think the amount of kids we were able to convince to stay part of this, stay true to what they initially thought they wanted Texas A&M football to look like, to finish what they started… I think at the end of the day, when you look at the plus-minus ratio, you know, we did a really good job with the roster.” 

He said the kids on the squad are fired up and ready to play.

"The biggest thing is the kids just want it to be Saturday already and get out there and play," Elko said. "They have been working hard and are looking forward to getting out there, I had to remind them that today is only Wednesday."