The Aggies hired Mike Elko on Monday, November 27, 2023, but not without a major fiasco.

We’ll get to Mike Elko in a bit, but let’s first go through the fiasco that was the hiring process.

All reports led into last weekend that Texas A&M was finally conducting an actual hiring process for their head coach. For the first time since Jackie Sherrill, the powers that be appeared to be considering a lot of potential coaches rather than starting with the end already known.

In my last blog post, I mentioned how every hire since Jackie Sherrill resulted in the most obvious hire with no apparent due diligence into that coach and any other candidates.

In Monday’s press conference after introducing Mike Elko, Ross Bjork indicated at least 30 potential coaches had been considered in some form, shape, or fashion. That doesn’t mean they interviewed or talked to 30 coaches; it just means many coaches were considered.

That sounds like a wonderful coaching search.

The rumored plan headed into the last regular season of college football was there were some key targets, and Saturday’s games needed to be played to see if that changed any interest in coaches on the coach’s side or A&M’s side.

Once again, this is a wonderful plan for a coaching search. We’ve got a little time, so let’s wait one more weekend to see if someone has a different level of interest once their season ends and they have no shot at the College Football Playoff. Or at least a minimal shot after losing in a rival game.

It seemed that the Aggies would make a very well-thought-out and intelligent hire.

Wellllllllllllllllllllll, on Saturday night around 8:48 p.m., the wheels didn’t just fall off the coaching search wagon; they blew up like a 90s-era Ford Explorer and turned the coaching search wagon completely upside down.

Reports started flowing out that the Aggies and Mark Stoops agreed for him to become the new Aggie head coach. His name surfaced late Friday night on the Internet and Saturday morning during the pre-game shows, but nobody thought it was real.

Based on what I can tell, Billy Liucci with TexAgs was the first to say anything at 8:48 p.m. He posted this on his premium forum, so it wasn’t technically public knowledge. I’m not a premium subscriber, so I didn’t see it, but I was sent what was posted. Liucci never publicly Tweeted anything, but when he breaks something that big in his premium forum, it’s basically public information.

Mark Passwaters, another well-connected reporter following Aggie sports, publicly Tweeted at 8:51 that Mark Stoops looked like the next Aggie head coach “barring a last-minute collapse.” By this time, every national reporter was also Tweeting that Mark Stoops was all but officially the next head football coach at Texas A&M.

The Mark Stoops to Aggieland train was running full steam down the tracks.

Social media lit up with Aggies everywhere, including players, ridiculing the hire. I mean, it just absolutely blew up. This is the first time I’ve seen something like it where there wasn’t an Aggie to be found that was supportive of the hire.

Many sports reporters were questioning the hire, but Aggies everywhere were lambasting the hire. And for good reason.

My cell phone blew up from friends, but I found it hard to believe. Surely, the powers that be weren’t that stupid. I’ll get to why hiring Mark Stoops made no sense later, but I couldn’t believe we would fire Jimbo Fisher to hire Mark Stoops.

It seemed real, but it also seemed odd.

I was pretty tired from a full day of watching college football, so I went to bed around 10:30, assuming/hoping I would wake up to different news. Luckily, that was the case, but let me finish how the night played out.

At 10:48 p.m., Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle Tweeted, “Any reports that say Mark Stoops to Texas A&M is a done deal are premature and inaccurate.”

Precisely two hours after Billy Liucci posted it looked like Mark Stoops would be the next head coach; a very well-connected Brent Zwerneman said reports of Mark Stoops were inaccurate. Now, mind you, Brent jumped on the Stoops to Aggieland train an hour before, saying it was also a done deal.

Somewhere along the way, I feel like there were reports that Mike Elko had told the Duke administration he would be staying at Duke. All signs pointed to Mark Stoops getting the Aggie gig.

What happened in that hour that Brent posted Stoops was coming, and then he wasn’t, I have no idea. Brent changed course quickly.

Brent has a connection at the highest level of Texas A&M. I don’t have proof of it, but Brent has broken some pretty big news related to Texas A&M. He would also officially announce the hire of Mike Elko the next day before anyone else.

Brent is connected.

When Brent Tweeted out the news it was premature, I believe it slowed down the train, but you don’t stop trains. They have to roll to a stop over a pretty good distance. The Mark Stoops train kept moving, and people’s fury had not fully calmed down.

At 11:16 p.m., a Kentucky reporter tweeted that Mark Stoops was staying in Kentucky. At 11:20 p.m., Billy Liucci confirmed that report. It looked like the Mark Stoops train to A&M was stopped and not going anywhere.

At 12:02 a.m., Mark Stoops tweeted that he had listened to a potential opportunity but would stay at Kentucky. He never denied the reports or consideration. That’s key, which I’ll get to later.

If you still couldn’t believe the reporters, the man himself had spoken, he wouldn’t be the next Aggie head coach. He never stated the specific school, but what he talked about was obvious.

What a WILD 3 hours that was. The Mark Stoops era at Texas A&M will be any Aggie head coach’s shortest but most exciting tenure. Maybe he wasn’t officially the head coach, but three very well-connected reporters all reported it was all but a done deal waiting on official approval.

So What the Hell Happened?:

Only a few people know what happened, but it’s possible to piece together what likely happened.
I do not know Ross Bjork led this, but Ross Bjork has never denied that Mark Stoops was a finalist. In his press conference on Monday, Ross Bjork stated he didn’t know how the reports got out and that the list of finalists and the finalist was “fluid.”

He never mentioned Mark Stoops by name, but he also never denied that final terms were being discussed with Mark Stoops. He also never said Mike Elko was the clear finalist heading into Saturday evening. He simply said everything on Saturday evening was “fluid.” That’s a non-denial if I’ve ever heard one.

So, the rest of what you’re about to read is all speculation on my part, but I have a solid basis for my speculation.

Ross Bjork seemed to be working independently or with a few people and had decided on Mark Stoops as the next Aggie head coach.

The problem appears to be that Bjork hadn’t informed enough of the folks who would make the final approval to see their thoughts. In the couple of hours of this going public, final approvers made their intentions known internally that they would disapprove of Mark Stoops as the head coach of Texas A&M.

I don’t specifically know who those people are, but it’s safe to assume those people have some combination of money and power. Certainly more than Ross Bjork.

Some of it might have been the public sentiment in those couple of hours, but if the news of Mark Stoops being the finalist had not been made public, I still don’t think it would have been approved. It was unanimous and widespread amongst Aggies that Mark Stoops was not the answer to the current issues with Aggie Football.

The exact time of death is up for debate, but the death of the Mark Stoops era at Texas A&M was between 10:48 p.m. on November 25, 2023, and 12:02 a.m. on November 26, 2023.

Like a rocket headed out of the Earth’s atmosphere, it didn’t last long, but it was full of energy. That was the Mark Stoops era at Texas A&M.

It’ll go down in Aggie legend.

Like most things on social media, the good news is that it’s all but gone and forgotten now. Sure, it’ll get brought back up occasionally, but it was so short and chaotic, along with nailing the Elko hire shortly after that, that it’s a mere blip.

It was an embarrassing blip by certain Aggie leaders, but it’s still a blip.

The future of Aggie Football lies with Mike Elko and his ability to win football games.

What the Hell Was Bjork Thinking?:

Nobody knows, including Ross Bjork. Whatever happened on Saturday night, Bjork dropped Mark Stoops like a hot potato. Stoops may say he declined, but final approval for him to decline was never coming. It could be an exercise in semantics that he removed his name from consideration before the final decision was made. Still, Mark Stoops never got an official offer to come to Aggieland.

The Mark Stoops to Aggieland train only has Bjork and I’m guessing, a couple of other ill-informed folks. I don’t know how many, but I don’t think Bjork had decided and started negotiating with Stoops in a vacuum. If that’s true, it’s even scarier Bjork thought he had that level of autonomy in this search.
I wonder how Bjork could conclude that Mark Stoops was the best candidate for Texas A&M.

I get guys like Dan Lanning, Ryan Day, and Kalen DeBoer weren’t coming to Aggieland. You do your due diligence and ensure there’s no possibility first. You start with the most proven and successful, even if their tenure as head coach is short. They’ve all accomplished more than Mark Stoops has, as they’ve all made it to conference championship games or better.

There’s a LONG list of coaches between those three guys and Mark Stoops.

Mike Elko, Elijah Robinson, and Jed Fischer were all rumored to be under strong consideration. Those guys are light years ahead of Mark Stoops for the Aggie job.

If Bjork wanted a sitting SEC head coach, the obvious hire was Lane Kiffin. I know people don’t like Lane Kiffin, but the dude would have won football games at Texas A&M. Winning cures everything, so Aggie fans would have gotten over Kiffin as their coach in short order. Kiffin would have taken the job as well.

In addition to Kiffin, Eli Drinkwitz should have been considered before Mark Stoops. I think Drinkwitz would have considered leaving Missouri for A&M. Those SEC head coaches are infinitely more qualified for the Aggie job than Mark Stoops.

How Bjork settled on Mark Stoops is beyond me and everyone I’ve read or talked to. Stoops has done well at Kentucky, but he hasn’t exactly killed it in Lexington. He has a losing record in the SEC and has spent 12 seasons in the SEC East, a much weaker division than the West. He should have a winning record in the SEC East, even at Kentucky, if he’s a great coach.

He’s never taken Kentucky to Atlanta for the SEC Championship or played in a New Year’s Six bowl game. He’s made Kentucky relevant and competitive in football, but he’s not excelled as their head coach.

The only thing I can think that swayed Bjork to settle on Stoops is that he’s a sitting SEC head coach. That does look like a strong move, but we saw what happened with Dan Mullen going from Mississippi State to Florida. That only sometimes works out.

If you want to play conspiracy, Bjork and Stoops briefly crossed paths in Miami in 2003. They may have made a personal connection there. Sports is a ton about personal relationships when it comes to hiring.

Maybe Bjork, like Scott Woodward before him, who hired his buddy, Jimbo, wanted to hire someone he knew well. He wouldn’t be the first, and he wouldn’t be the last.

If you want to go further down the conspiracy hole, both Bjork and Stoops are repped by Jimmy Sexton. Jimmy Sexton represents some of the top names in college football, so that he may have offered advice in Bjork’s ear.

I’ve tried to figure out what Bjork was thinking, but I can’t. I think Bjork is just an idiot.

Sure, he comes across looking and talking the part, but remember he was the Athletic Director at Ole Miss when all the Hugh Freeze stuff went down. He and the Ole Miss administration completely botched that. They had to fire Hugh Freeze because a lawsuit they created produced records showing Freeze had called an escort service from a University phone.

Bjork has gotten his head coach (Freeze) fired, thanks to a decision he was part of. He can add Mark Stoops to a head coach decision that was blown up when he brought it for final approval. Bjork’s track record could be better.

Once again, this is all speculation on my part with Bjork’s involvement, but it seems like he was leading the Mark Stoops decision with little feedback.

There’s nothing “fluid” about a list of finalists in a coaching search like this. Sure, there’s a little uncertainty, but at some point, you nail down your finalist and get them. It seems apparent that Stoops was Bjork’s finalist, but he quickly learned nobody else felt the same.

We’ll likely find out in the next 12-24 months if this is the case. If this wasn’t Bjork’s doing, he’ll remain the Aggie AD for a good period. The sports that matter are in good hands with good coaches. We need deep post-season runs by those sports other than one season for baseball, but the Aggie athletic department is humming along thanks to ticket sales and large donations.

I believe we’ll see Bjork move on within the next 12 months and Justin Moore promoted to Athletic Director. At this point, Bjork has lost all faith with the Aggie faithful. It will take some deep post-season runs in football, basketball, and baseball for him to win some favor back.

How Did We Get Mike Elko?:

This is all speculation as well, but after Bjork recommended the hiring of Mark Stoops, the powers that be told him to get Elko and be done with the coaching search. Don’t screw it up any worse than what you’ve already done.

When Mark Stoops was recommended and blown up, there were two choices:
1) Reset the whole process.
2) Make the most apparent hire right away, which was Elko.

I was leaning to number one on Sunday morning mainly because I needed to learn how botched things were. After seeing the results, I fully agree that number two was the proper path.

There was no need to complicate the process and make it worse. Who knows what coaches on the “fluid list” were still interested after learning about Mark Stoops and the blowback?

Mike Elko was the guy to get at that point. And we went and got him.

I’d like to know if initially focusing on Mark Stoops over Mike Elko costs us another million per year and an additional year on the contract. We could have had Mike Elko for five years at $30 million had he been the main target when the key games were done on Saturday. Instead, we gave him a six-year contract for $42 million.

It’s not a terrible contract based on the current market, but I was surprised to see the annual salary and length of the deal. Hopefully, it’s a moot point, and we’re not wondering if Ross Bjork cost us a few million thanks to his idiocy.

Is Mike Elko a Good Hire?:

After all the dust settled, Mike Elko was the best hire. I’m confused that Mark Stoops was even on the “fluid list” of finalists. I wonder how anyone could think Stoops was a better hire than Elko. It makes no sense.

Moving on from Stoops, I like Elko over Dan Lanning, Ryan Day, Kalen DeBoer, Jed Fisch, and even Kyle Whittingham, who entered the process late with sincere interest.

Lane Kiffin is the only other coach who would have been a great hire, but I get perception wouldn’t have allowed it.

I love the Elko hire for a host of reasons.

First off, he’s a football coach through and through. Not just some Xs and Os genius but a dude who understands the game of football from the players, the program, and the plays. His two years at Duke were fantastic; he learned much about being a head coach. He’s a more well-rounded football coach than when he left Texas A&M. It’s almost like we sent him to finishing school for two years.

In addition, Elko is young and hungry.

This is the thing we missed the most on Jimbo. Jimbo is a football coach but wasn’t hungry when we hired him.

Jimbo’s problem was he was so focused on making his offense work in today’s game that he wouldn’t evolve. He didn’t have to because he had a national championship and a massive guaranteed contract. He could dig in trying to make his offense work because he didn’t have to worry about anything from an accomplishment or monetary standpoint. Sure, he ruined his legacy at two schools, but he’s got a national championship ring and earned well over $100 million in his career. Jimbo wanted to prove a point rather than evolve because he wasn’t hungry for success.

Elko appears to be the exact opposite. Sure, he’s got a fat contract that can take care of a few generations, but he hasn’t won anything on the football field as a head coach. What he did at Duke the last two seasons is impressive, but in the grand scheme, it’s not much.

Mike Elko has a good decade or two of coaching football in front of him. He’s got an incentive-based contract where he can make more money than his base salary if he wins a national championship. He has all the world’s motivation to succeed at Texas A&M.

He’s only two seasons removed from the Aggie program, so he has more familiarity than any potential head coach. Elijah Robinson has the most, but he would never be the head coach with Elko in the mix. Elko makes more sense than Robinson because he’s done it for a couple of seasons.

Elko’s familiarity with the Aggie program is going to pay massive dividends. We’ve already seen it with the team and recruiting. In the first few days since his announcement, there has yet to be a mass exodus to the transfer portal or de-commitments in recruiting. Sure, some players are likely going to transfer, and maybe a couple of kids will de-commit, but by and large, it looks like the players are committed to keeping this thing together.

That is HUGE because this Aggie team is loaded with talent. This isn’t a rebuild job. This isn’t a head coach driving the program into the ground, and the next coach has to rebuild everything. This is a situation where a head coach needs to walk in and keep the train on the track while making some modifications so the train runs better.

This team was a few points away from playing in Atlanta this season. The talent is there, and it’s clear that Elko’s familiarity with the players is a massive asset.

Beyond the players, Mike Elko knows the administration to a large degree. There have been some changes in two years, but for the most part, Mike Elko has a good idea of who does what from an administration standpoint. He doesn’t have to sit in his office wondering who to contact when he needs something. He already has a good idea, which will make his transition easier.

His family’s familiarity with College Station is also a positive. They likely have friends with whom they can plug back in and know where they want to live. We forget coaches are people with family that need to be taken care of. I’m sure Elko’s wife and kids can go about their way and not spend a lot of time adjusting to a new place.

That saves Elko from worrying about them.

I have no idea how successful Elko will be at Texas A&M. Nobody does. I’m not foolish enough to think he will win repeated national championships. He’s in a position to appear in the College Football Playoff, and that’s all you can ask for.

Most people have not realized it, but a MASSIVE change is coming to college football next season. The Big 10 and SEC are doing away with divisions, and the playoff is expanding to 12 teams.

For Texas A&M, that’s a massive gain because everything doesn’t go through Tuscaloosa and Atlanta anymore. Even if Nick Saban continues to dominate, it’s not our most significant issue. We can still carve a path to the College Football Playoff, which will be a massive step for the program.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to supplant Alabama and Georgia in the SEC, but that’s a tall order for next season. From day one, Mike Elko has a much easier path to college football relevance than in years past.
I’m bullish on the future of Aggie Football. Only time will tell if I’m right. I hope I’m finally right because I missed on Fran, Sumlin, and Jimbo. I was right on Sherman from the start.

I bought into the hype early on with the other three and thought each guy would return Aggie Football to national relevance. They had a blip of a great season but failed to do more over their entire tenure. They failed.

I’m hoping Mike Elko is different, but I think we finally got it right.

I can’t believe anyone with authority thought Mark Stoops was the answer. What a train wreck that would have been. No Stoops for us, thank goodness.