Mike Elko prefers not to look over his shoulder. At SEC Media Days on Thursday, the new Texas A&M coach was asked to retrace a few steps in his journey to the Aggies.
Elko was hired to replace Jimbo Fisher, returning to College Station where he was the defensive coordinator from 2018-21. Elko was 16-9 in two seasons at Duke.
“I’ll let other people judge these differences or judge what’s different between me and Coach Fisher,” Elko said Thursday in Dallas at SEC Media Days at the Omni Hotel. “I hadn’t spent a ton of time thinking about what’s different. I think our focus is what we want our program to look like, the culture that we want, the level of buy in and discipline and accountability that we want. And that’s kind of been where we have focused our attention.”
Fisher first brought Elko to College Station on his original coaching staff after the 2017 season and he was a semifinalist for the Frank Broyles Award given to the nation’s top assistant coach in 2021. He then earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in leading Duke to a 9-4 season in 2022.
During his four-year stint as Fisher’s defensive coordinator, Elko and the Aggies never played Texas. This year, the rivalry is back with the Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners breaking into the SEC ranks.
“That’s a rivalry that means an awful lot to our fan base, to the program, the history of the rivalry, and the tradition,” Elko said. “I have been aware of it. I was a huge football fan growing up. I watched those games on Thanksgiving. And the defense and the wrecking crew and all of that. I think it’s great for the state, great for college football that that rivalry is coming back. When you have two brands like that that are that close to each other, they should play. They should play meaningful games. They should play games that really matter. And with our tradition, they should play on Thanksgiving weekend.”
Another spin down memory lane awaits Elko this season with a matchup against Notre Dame. Elko was defensive coordinator for the Fighting Irish before being hired by Fisher, and his former quarterback at Duke — Riley Leonard — is now the signal-caller in South Bend.
“Riley’s a phenomenal quarterback. He’s a phenomenal competitor,” Elko said. “He obviously played a huge role in our success at Duke. And in a lot of ways me getting this job here at Texas A&M. And so the irony of playing against him in the opener certainly isn’t lost on me. He’s going to do everything he possibly can to make sure he has the upper hand on me for the rest of his life.”
