Seems like a stupid question, but there were many on here who did not welcome the decision to hire Mike Elko as our head coach two years ago. For those of you who are willing to admit it, when did you change your mind? Or, is there still a remnant that has not? Hard to believe that you could get through this point in the season and not be all in, but I'm willing to entertain arguments to the contrary.

For the record, I was a big fan of the hire (especially after the Stoops headfake). I've always loved a defensive-minded head coach; grew up watching the New York Giants under Bill Parcells with Bill Belichick as DC. Elko's brand of mixing up blitzes and pressuring the quarterback reminds me of those teams from the late 80s sometimes. Even with our late season slide last year, I was definitely more upset with Collin Klein than I was Elko.

I'm sure there's someone that thinks that, but I don't know they will put it in writing on here.

****Even though my original post has been quoted, I'm editing because I recognize that it was a bit harsh.

Only Lat

TylerAg98 said:

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I'm sure there's some idiot that thinks that, but I don't know they will put it in writing on here.

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I'll say it. Elko is not the guy.

Elko was the guy I hoped A&M would go for. His defenses were pretty good while he was here and I remember thinking his 2nd half adjustments were nails as a DC more often than not. I also was hoping to get away from an offensive minded coach.

Honest answer: I don't know, and neither do you. It has barely been two seasons. People were saying the same thing about Jimbo after the 2020 season.

Whether he's "the guy" or not, I agree he is currently having a good year and recruiting very well, and therefore based on everything we know at this point, we made the right decision to pay him market rate and keep him here.

But whether he ultimately wins a championship and/or succeeds here at the level that will make him "the guy"….who knows.

The better question is - Did anything think that Elko would leave if we waited until after the season to give him a contract extension?

I believe in rewarding my performers after the job is complete, not while they are forecasting a big sale.

Psycho Bunny said:

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TylerAg98 said:

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I'm sure there's some idiot that thinks that, but I don't know they will put it in writing on here.

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I'll say it. Elko is not the guy.

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Blue star for you! And please tell me your username has something to do with Monty Python!!

jturner181 said:

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The better question is - Did anything think that Elko would leave if we waited until after the season to give him a contract extension?

I believe in rewarding my performers after the job is complete, not while they are forecasting a big sale.

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I think the new landscape in college football with the portal and NIL,if you have that attitude you are potentially going to lose some great coaches.

I mean players are getting paid big $ and they aren't proven either.

Been all in since day 1

Even when he was just the DC he was still the best coach we have had here in 30 years

I liked the initial hire and so far Elko has proven me right.

Ross bjork disagrees!

He may not be Mr. Right, but he's Mr. Right Now

AozorAg said:

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Honest answer: I don't know, and neither do you. It has barely been two seasons. People were saying the same thing about Jimbo after the 2020 season.

Whether he's "the guy" or not, I agree he is currently having a good year and recruiting very well, and therefore based on everything we know at this point, we made the right decision to pay him market rate and keep him here.

But whether he ultimately wins a championship and/or succeeds here at the level that will make him "the guy"….who knows.

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I agree with you. However, I think there's a difference in accountability and a team mindset under Elko which translates well to long-term consistency

jturner181 said:

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The better question is - Did anything think that Elko would leave if we waited until after the season to give him a contract extension?

I believe in rewarding my performers after the job is complete, not while they are forecasting a big sale.

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How much of it is your money?

Once I found out Duke had back-to-back-to-back losing seasons before Elko arrived and then had back-to-back winning seasons, I was all in.

TylerAg98 said:

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Psycho Bunny said:

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TylerAg98 said:

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I'm sure there's some idiot that thinks that, but I don't know they will put it in writing on here.

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I'll say it. Elko is not the guy.

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Blue star for you! And please tell me your username has something to do with Monty Python!!

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Yes as well as from the early days of Halo.

Name was originally Killer Rabbit, changed it to Psycho Bunny, when other players called me psycho for always running up the middle on the Halo maps with no cover and just lobbing rockets in every direction.

I wasn't allowed to have grenades, to many team kills.

jturner181 said:

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The better question is - Did anything think that Elko would leave if we waited until after the season to give him a contract extension?

I believe in rewarding my performers after the job is complete, not while they are forecasting a big sale.

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Here's an even better question. Do you think we should have gone into the final week of the recruiting cycle with a coach who hadn't signed an extension and was rumored to be a leading candidate for Penn State?

If he allows anymore halfback passes to be called on the goal line with the game on the line, he won't be the guy for very long.

Problem is, no one knows who "the guy" is until he proves he's "the guy."

That means anyone could be "the guy," or just someone wanting to be "the guy."

But our track record is give someone a 65 million 5 year guaranteed contract the minute he wins one big game, whereafter he will promptly prove he is anyone except "the guy."

But Elko looks more promising than most in many years.

My dad has always called Coach Elko - "The Clydesdale". He is a hard working coach, stout and bold.

Great rosters can make just about any HC look like "the guy."

This is the most balance, best all-around roster we have had in a long long time. Not to take away from what he has done this season, but a lot of coaches would be 10-0 with this roster.

Guy on a Buffalo said:

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Seems like a stupid question, but there were many on here who did not welcome the decision to hire Mike Elko as our head coach two years ago. For those of you who are willing to admit it, when did you change your mind? Or, is there still a remnant that has not? Hard to believe that you could get through this point in the season and not be all in, but I'm willing to entertain arguments to the contrary.

For the record, I was a big fan of the hire (especially after the Stoops headfake). I've always loved a defensive-minded head coach; grew up watching the New York Giants under Bill Parcells with Bill Belichick as DC. Elko's brand of mixing up blitzes and pressuring the quarterback reminds me of those teams from the late 80s sometimes. Even with our late season slide last year, I was definitely more upset with Collin Klein than I was Elko.

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Depends on what your goals are for our coach??!

I'm sure if/when we lose someone will get on here and start the "I told you so" BAS flare up "I'm always right" type of rant. Until then, I'm just going to enjoy the ride and cheer on the team. Thanks and Gig'em

I honestly don't know if he's the guy or not. We fell apart last year. Now we've had a half of football unlike anything I've seen in many years.

At this point, I think he is a decent coach and head and shoulders better than what we had.

No idea if he can win a championship.

NoahAg said:

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Great rosters can make just about any HC look like "the guy."

This is the most balance, best all-around roster we have had in a long long time. Not to take away from what he has done this season, but a lot of coaches would be 10-0 with this roster.

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And yet you predicted 6 wins after the first 2 games of watching this roster.

I wanted Coach Elko the season before Jimbo was fired.

Why do you continue to do this? Is your self awareness really this bad?

JDCAG (NOT Colin) said:

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NoahAg said:

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Great rosters can make just about any HC look like "the guy."

This is the most balance, best all-around roster we have had in a long long time. Not to take away from what he has done this season, but a lot of coaches would be 10-0 with this roster.

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And yet you predicted 6 wins after the first 2 games of watching this roster.

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NoahAg said:

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Great rosters can make just about any HC look like "the guy."

This is the most balance, best all-around roster we have had in a long long time. Not to take away from what he has done this season, but a lot of coaches would be 10-0 with this roster.

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How many coaches could put together this roster and then get them to play the way they are?

We are a few plays away from being 7-3 at best. Whether those plays were made due to Elko's coaching is impossible to say. But when you are 10-0, it doesn't really matter how you got there, you are currenlty the guy.

But if those plays don't happen next season, then things will start changing. Which is the circle of modern college football coaching. But for anyone saying he is currently not the guy, is an idiot.

He is definitely the guy for the second half

This is college football


He is the guy….


….until he isnt

IDaggie06 said:

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We are a few plays away from being 7-3 at best. Whether those plays were made due to Elko's coaching is impossible to say. But when you are 10-0, it doesn't really matter how you got there, you are currenlty the guy.

But if those plays don't happen next season, then things will start changing. Which is the circle of modern college football coaching. But for anyone saying he is currently not the guy, is an idiot.

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We are one play from being 9-1. Other than that everything else you said is true.

I wasn't a fan of the hire. To be fair, those that were appear to be right and those that weren't appear to be wrong now but at the time of the hire nobody knew for sure who would be the one to get us to this point. Everyone probably had a 50-50 chance one way or the other.

Last year aside, Elko has been a pleasant surprise with evaluating and recruiting talent, hiring assistants, running the program overall while cultivating good relations within the AD and alumni and, as a big bonus, appears to consider this job a destination where he can unleash latent potential. There's no doubt he has done a fantastic job.