Say less, do more: A&M has embraced 'quiet' offseason under Mike Elko

Press conference video courtesy of the Southeastern Conference

“There is a time to speak and a time to keep silent.” — Ecclesiastes 3:7

DALLAS — The Good Book may hold the answer to a good football team for Texas A&M.

Indeed, Aggies’ football coach Mike Elko might have looked to Ecclesiastes to set an offseason plan for A&M.

Silence is said to be golden. Under Elko, it has taken on a Maroon tint.

Elko sought quiet. He wanted his team to say less and do more.

“I’m most proud of the fact that it’s been a quiet offseason,” Elko said on Thursday at Southeastern Conference Media Days. “I think we talked a lot about just going to work, improving and enhancing our program. I think we’ve been able to do that.

“I think when you’re not hearing about programs in April, May, June, it’s usually a good thing.”

He has a point.

In recent years, A&M offseasons have produced more drama than daytime television.

Recall, two years ago former coach Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban were involved in an NIL feud.

Last year, there was Fisher’s reluctant hiring of in-name-only offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

This year, A&M would have had a completely uneventful summer if not for the betrayal of a certain conniving baseball coach.

Football, though, remained relatively quiet.

“We're working in silence,” junior tackle Trey Zuhn told a group of reporters assembled in the Fair Park 2 room of the Omni Dallas Hotel. “We’re going to get our work done. We’re going to grind every single day. We don’t need to talk about it.”

Talk is cheap. Buy-outs aren’t.

A&M is paying a massive coaching buyout because there was too much chatter and not enough achievement.

Talk doesn’t pick up fourth-and-short against Tennessee. Talk doesn’t get a touchdown from the two-yard line against Tennessee. Talk doesn’t make a clinching defensive stand against Ole Miss.

Tenacious, relentless hard work to increase strength, quickness and speed does. That has been the Aggies’ focus this offseason.

“I just think with the way Mike Elko runs the program,” Zuhn said. “There’s no need for anything flashy. There’s no need for any of the extra stuff. Just come in every day and do your work.

“I love it that way.”

Katie Smith, TexAgs

Thursday represented Mike Elko’s first trip to SEC Media Days as Texas A&M’s head coach since being hired on Nov. 26, 2023.

That way may turn the close losses of 2023 into thrilling victories in 2024. That could result in an improvement on last year’s total of seven wins.

Maybe they could win eight. Or nine. Or…

A change of culture can bring a reversal of fortune. The Aggies hope so. They reiterated that the culture has changed. They say there’s more accountability, more attention to detail, more dedication.

And, of course, less discussion. They shut out noises by lowering their voices.

“At times, when we got here, it felt like we were on a ship taking on water,” Elko said. “It was very rocky. That’s not the world you want to live in.

"To stabilize that and get it quieter, we talked about that. To just know that your kids are day-to-day doing the things that you need them to do. That’s usually what eliminates a lot of that noise

“I think that’s the world you want to live in. You want to be a little bit quieter, a little bit more calm.”

There has been no public talk of championships. There has been no talk of grandeur. There has been no talk of goals.

There has only been a group of players buying into a new culture and new ideals and working to get better.

“There’s a real positive energy in and around our building right now,” Elko said. “That kind of shows you they’re in with what you’re trying to do.”

That says a lot.