...they absolutely should have vetted the field and worked through back-channels to make sure they had a done deal, before shooting from the hip at... Mark Stoops?And then within 12 hours throwing the offer out to Elko...?
But yeah, hiring the Dook guy isn't going to impress anyone.
I keep forgetting Elko was A&M’s DC 2018-21, which were Jimbo’s first four seasons. I’m sure that played a part thanks to mutual familiarity between Elko and A&M’s admin. On the other hand, if you’re A&M is Elko who you really want – more of the old guard? Who you just fired at an eight/nine figure cost?
More importantly, I’m not convinced Elko has proven himself worthy of a job as big as A&M. Yes his first two years at Duke resulted in winning seasons, but it seems Elko is getting hired based on Duke’s overpraised win Vs a four loss Clemson team with a stunted offense. Outside of beating Clemson, Duke has performed average Vs standard ACC fare, predictably losing to ranked Notre Dame, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, and also losing to a bad Virginia team.
That’s enough to bill Elko as worth replacing Fisher?
Texas A&M hiring Elko because he beat Clemson on national TV reminds me of Texas rushing out to hire Tom Herman based largely on his opportunistic Houston squad beating #3 Oklahoma to open the 2016 season.
I would’ve gone after Lane Kiffin. He’d turn around A&M’s underachieving offense. He knows how to play the NIL game. His brash rhetoric would be well received in Aggieland, and since his USC days, Kiffin has developed into a much more well-rounded program manager.
