Catching up with Late Kick's Josh Pate at SEC Media Days in Dallas

Mike Elko's name did not dominate headlines in December, but Late Kick's Josh Pate doesn't care because he thinks Texas A&M nailed the hire. On Day 1 of SEC Media Days, the Late Kick host joined TexAgs to explain why he's so bullish on Elko leading the way in Aggieland.

Key notes from Josh Pate interview

• I’ll say things like, “They nailed the hire on Mike Elko,” which they did, but that doesn't necessarily correlate with 11-1 in year one. It's possible for A&M to go 8-4 this year, and they nailed the hire. It's possible for them to go 10-2 and have nailed the hire. I don't always like to wait until the end of the year to say, “You are what your record says you are'' mode because I don't believe in that.
   
• What I believe in is when you get feedback about how organized and thorough the evaluation is in going and acquiring talent. It had to be that way at Duke, so it's just that way now with a ton more resources. When you get all that, how are you not bullish on that? I don't care that his name did not dominate the headlines.
   
• They may have hired a superstar head coach, but he's going to become a superstar at A&M instead of already being one. They did the inverse last time in Jimbo Fisher. Mike Elko’s resume is still yet to be written, but if you know what you're looking at in this game, I'm not sure how you're not bullish.
   
• I was talking to a head coach about a month ago, and he was saying, “People just don't get how pivotal it is in the situation you inherit.” It's okay to have expectations this year, but if he doesn't deliver to the degree that Aggie fans want him to, I doubt they get to December and we say, “Should we question this hire?”
   
• I think competing in the Big 12 and SEC are like walking on a tightrope 10 feet off of the ground compared to 10 stories off the ground. At 10 feet, you can be looser. If you fall, it's going to hurt, but you get right back up. If you go up 10 stories, and develop some poor habits, that's how you find yourself in a dogfight with Mississippi State.
   
• Everybody knows that the Georgia game is big. Everyone knows going into Kyle Field at the end of the season is big. The randomness gets you. It can totally bite you if you don't get that “looseness” fixed. It is the ethos and the identity of the program. They just happen to be stepping into a new world where what they can kind of get away with in years past can’t get away with anymore. 
   
• Everyone is trying to get on record saying, “I really like Ole Miss,” or “Watch out for Ole Miss,” but nobody is predicting them to win the SEC. No one is taking that added step. In any other year, I can find someone predicting Alabama or Georgia to win it, but I can’t find anybody who is willing to walk the added step on the plank and say, “That’s not a contender. That’s a winner.”
   
• What is success for Ole Miss this year? In the last two years, their product was good enough to make a 12-team playoff. Let’s say they're a 10-2 team, don’t go to Atlanta, but they make the playoffs. Is that success? People are saying this is the best team they've had. To me, unless they make the playoffs and win a game in the playoffs, I'm not so sure that the locals over there wouldn't go, “Good year, but it was ultimately a disappointment.”
   
• Ole Miss is at the doorstep. What do we consider success? Georgia is title or bust. Ohio State is title or bust. It's not title or bust at Ole Miss, but I don’t think it's just playoff or bust, either. I think there's something in between.
   
• I still think Billy Napier has a better chance at lasting longer. Even if both seasons went great, I don't see a ton more runway in Sam Pittman’s career. I talked to some of the odds-maker folks, and I said, “Take Florida as is. Don't change them and put them in a different conference.” There were some Big 12 schedules and ACC schedules that put their win total at eight and a half wins.
   
• If I get Florida playing six out of the top 20 teams in the country, that means they theoretically could be the 22nd-best team in the country and go 6-6. At the end of the day in December, nobody cares because you wouldn't be ranked 22 with six losses. It is a big-time operation with people who know what they're doing. They just haven't gotten the results yet. 
   
• The blessing that comes along with the curse of an SEC schedule is that if you have deficiencies, they'll get exposed. Therefore, maybe you find out you got the wrong guy a little bit quicker than you would in a different conference, so you could get a new guy in there and see what happens.