Aggies embrace Elko's push for establishing culture of accountability

A wise man — maybe it was Confucius or Voltaire or Stephen McGee — once said, “The greatest ability is availability.”

Accountability must be next on the list.

Because a lack of accountability often results in instability and liability.

Don’t Aggies know it.

Accountability is vital for football success. Coaches preach it. Good teams embrace it. Great teams thrive on it.

Championship teams typically have players holding each other accountable. Get your assignment right. Prepare adequately. Represent positively.

But a coach must establish a culture that demands accountability.

To be fair, former A&M coach Jimbo Fisher had moments of holding players accountable. Benching several players for sneaking out of the team hotel to attend a party the night before a game is an example.

However, stories of tolerated missed practices, missed meetings and missed workouts indicate accountability had waned.

New Texas A&M coach Mike Elko has placed a strong emphasis on accountability, and players are apparently embracing it.

“(I’m) holding myself accountable for all my actions,” senior defensive tackle Shemar Turner said. “Doing what I need to do right all the time, 100 percent.

“Elko has helped a lot with that coming in with accountability. He’s helped us hold ourselves accountable, the whole team accountable.”

How so?

Offensive tackle Trey Zuhn III explained:

“We had a system where we were grouped into teams, and if you were to miss a meal or be late to something, it would be a ding for your team,” Zuhn said. “If (your team) had the most amount of dings at the end of the week, you had an extra workout that was kind of a punishment workout. So that was really a way to get people motivated to hold each other accountable and hold themselves accountable.”

The punishment?

“The worst part is 500-yard (weight) plate pushes at 7 in the morning,” Zuhn said.

Every new coach talks about changing culture. Every coach talks about stressing accountability.

Zuhn said it didn’t take long to learn it wasn’t just talk for Elko.

“It took maybe a week or so,” he said. “After that, everybody was like, ‘OK, this is for real.’”

Elko said the all-important “buy-in” was also for real. Players were enthusiastic. He saw them work harder. Perhaps harder than they’ve worked in several years.

“The way we want to do things is a little different from a culture standpoint,” Elko said. “How we unpack the game of football, all of that. I just think the buy-in we’ve gotten from the players, from the program has been really good.

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

That is, to turn an underachieving program into a higher achiever.

A&M had the highest-ranked recruiting class ever in 2022. The Aggies were 12-13 in the following two seasons.

Fisher was held accountable. Now, players are, too.

They’re being held accountable to do the little things championship-caliber teams do.

Showing up on time to eat with teammates may not seem like a big deal. But it builds camaraderie and shows a demand for responsibility.

That — and showing up for more intense weight-lifting sessions — may prove beneficial on the field.

Perhaps nobody will false start on a key play. Maybe short-yardage situations will be converted more frequently. Routes may be run more precisely. More blocking assignments may be executed. Fewer tackles may be missed. Fewer coverages may be blown.

It can all start with accountability. And that leads to sustainability.