Elko emphasizes community & fan involvement at first Coach's Night

Seemingly, the main message Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko wanted to convey on Monday night is that players, coaches and even fans are all a part of building the Aggies program.

Wearing a maroon blazer and with a collage of legendary A&M athletes as a backdrop, Elko met with media before the Brazos County Coaches Night festivities began at the Midtown Legends Event Center.

He made it clear that — unlike some previous head football coaches — he would be active in the community and embrace the legions of Aggies fans.

“I’m going to be out. I’m going to be public,” Elko said. “I think people are starting to see that about me. I really don’t want to live in a bubble. It’s not how I want to do this thing.

“Whether it’s going out to local restaurants, whether it’s going out to the baseball games and supporting other teams, whether it’s coming to events like this, I just think we want to be in this together with our fans. That’s how something really special gets built.  Hopefully, this is the first start of that.”

Elko didn’t give a long speech. Instead, he welcomed a Q&A session with the hundreds of Aggies assembled.

Among the questions to be asked likely pertained to the Aggies’ pursuit of adding another receiver to the roster, the health of quarterback Conner Weigman, the level of improvement in the offensive line, and the overall outlook for the Aggies in their first year under Elko’s guidance.

Elko indicated he was ready for all of them.

“When we sat down and talked about coaches nights and formats and what we wanted it to look like, I said, ‘Please don’t let me go thunder away for 30 minutes on things I have no idea if they’re interested in hearing about,’” he said. “I’ll give a brief recap (of spring football drills), I’ll give a quick state of the union, and let’s let them fire away.

“Let’s have some interaction. Let’s hear what their questions are, what their concerns are. Let’s have some open conversation about Texas A&M football and where we want it to go.”