Josh Pate On Texas A&M Hiring Mike Elko (Late Kick Cut) 

As a Notre Dame fan, I think this is a great hire for Texas a&m. I was disappointed when he left Notre Dame to go be the coordinator for the aggies, and I've been impressed with what he has done at Duke with limited resources

Urban Meyer to Ohio State was a grand slam hire.

Last time an SEC school hired a coach that overachieved at Duke it worked out very well.

If you put Mike Elko, and Mark Stoops in a room could you tell them apart?

Love this show. Love you Josh. You guys make so much sense and keep college football as wonderful as it is.

I wanted Mike elko from start. I wanted him as our head coach when he left to duke. I think he’s a great fit for us at A&M.

As an Aggie, I dont understand going to get the consistent 1 or 2 runner up in the East. Thank goodness for the Elko flip. Your right, not flashy, but this guy fits the culture of Aggieland.

Tier 1 doesn't mean you get your pick of any coach but 1st pick of the available candidates. Out of the available coaches and open positions I think (as an LSU fan) A&M got the best available candidate that fit their program.

How did we go from “there are names you wouldn’t believe available for this job” to “grand slam hires like that don’t happen”??? I’m confused Both are direct quotes from this show

Elko is a good damn hire.

If he doesn't beat LSU, Bama, Utexas, Okleedoklee and Georgia.. they're gonna fire his butt. LOL.

Congratulations to Mike Elko

What happened to " I'm happy at Duke ? " Duke gets a good coach to bring them up in their conference football standings and they lose him just as fast. What these coaches don't understand is if you bring success to Duke football, and that means you aren't expected to turn them into national football champions like the basketball program, you as their football coach has it made for life probably, without all the high heat do or die pressure. Choices in life. Jump into the fire Tex A&M will light under you Coach Elko. I'm sure your contract won't have the financial oversights your predecessor had. Enjoy the heat, it's hot in Texas.

A&M needed a solid coach who could hold onto the current talent while cleaning up the cracks in the program. If we can get a solid OC Elko could have immediate success here

Urban Meyer was also a "grand slam" hire. He won at Florida before being hired at tOSU.

There were many Tennessee fans feeling underwhelmed with the Josh Heupel hire, yet now, most will tell you he was the right hire and has the Vols trending upward for years to come. Don't let this 8-4 season fool you after 11-2 last year. Most knowledgeable fans knew that this year was going to be a down year, but 8 wins in a down year is remarkable. I say this to back up Josh's point that Mike Elko is not a splash hire, but he could turn out to be a grand slam hire and with the talent A&M has this could be a quick turnaround whereas Tennessee is still trying to build a solid roster thanks to Jeremy Pruitt's train wreck 3 years.

It’s a hire. You’re right…flashy is definitely NOT a serious football related point but I dare say a majority of Aggie fans (casuals) love the attention that come with Flash 🤷🏾‍♂️

As a TN fan we a take limbo jimbo in Knoxville as a recruiting coordinator or some but idk if we rlly want him coaching anything too much

Here’s what I know, Pate said 3 years ago that Texas A&M was a 10 win program and I just had to deal with it lol! You’ve been wrong about A&M all along, you’re still wrong about A&M today. Yes we all dunked on you.

Coach Mike Elkins is very solid football coach, and that’s what A&M needs.

Elcko will do just fine. He will go 9-3 like those who have come before him.

You didn’t mention Jimbo Fisher as a Grand Slam hire 😂 He is a championship winning coach…and A & M landed him…then fired him still owing him $73million guaranteed.

Yeah, this is one of the "elite" jobs. One that was so elite that they hired a lifetime average coach, only to dump him in a few hours. And then they hire the coach of Duke! Keep on dreaming about those "names you wouldn't believe" that are interested in this 2nd tier job.

Big thing with Elko is he recrutied a good chunk of the players and brought in Elijah Robinson. Hopfully he makes E-Rob the DC, finds a good Olinr coach and looks into OC. He was ny pick from the get go and good to see him back at A&M

I like Mark Stoops. I think he makes the best out of what he has at Kentucky. Even the middling teams of the SEC are consistently gonna have better players than him. IMO winning 10 games at UK is a an accomplishment.

So you're saying nobody wanted the Texas A&M job?

I would not be thrilled if I was an A&M fan.

If it were up to me, I would fire the T A&M AD if he even considered Mark Stoops. Stoops is like Gundy, he's a good choice if all you want is a 7 to 8 win season. They get you to a Bowl Game but what does that mean anymore?

Yeah Jimbo was supposed to be our flashy grand slam hire at A&M when we pulled him from FSU and now we're replacing him. We thought it was working after 2020 but turns out that swing for the fence kind of hire was a miss.

I think Mike Elko was a good hire. He recruited well at A&M. The players love him and I think he’ll do a good job

Hiring Jimbo Fisher WAS a grand slam hire… proving A&M can do it. It didn’t work out, but at the time, it was huge.

Stoops is a better Coach. Texas A&M fans are pretending to be happy about this hire. They truly thought they would get a big name, high profile guy. Yes flash wins nothing, but neither will Mike Elco.

Pate you need some chapstick. Aggy has your lips raw and chapped.

Elko has been my number one from the start. The guy can coach football and winning fixes everything. Ross Bjork hired Schloss and now Elko. Let's play ball!

This is a hire that makes a ton of sense for Texas A&M, he just needs to go out and keep a lot of those big name guys that they recruited from jumping into the transfer portal.

My take on A&M's hire of Mike Elco is very positive. I've watched him coach a lot of games and have found him to be a great in game coach! He makes good adjustments on the fly that produces results. Some coaches cannot do that. He also is a great judge of talent!! I wish the team I pull for could have landed him. A & M will prosper the first season. They have the financing to recruit well and to work the portal. If Mike could take a team like he inherited at Duke and turn them into a legit competitor against anyone, then he should be able to turn A & M around quickly!! I hope the cupboard is not to bare. If it is, the portal should be a great help to find good seasoned players to start. Give him one good QB and he will win very soon. POMO One more note. Josh Pate is the very best at what he does. There isn't a close second to even think about! Keep it coming!

Jimbo won before TAMU.Urban won before OSU. Les Miles won before Kansas.

A&M is a premier college football program. Always liked them and hope for success with there new coach.

So Josh said A&M is a keystone program and they can get whoever they want - everyone disagrees - they hire MIKE ELKO - “KEYSTONE”

All this. All this. And yeah, you could lump Jimbo into the Grand Slam hires that didn't work out all the way.

Congrats Texas AM, you stopped your school from hiring Mark Stoops and instead hired “mark stoops but with fewer accomplishments”

Pate always makes so much sense!

I know A&M fans, and if they ousted Stoops, they ousted the guy who was going to make them a powerhouse based solely on the fact they didn’t want him. Hook ‘em! See y’all losers next year.

Since when was Texas A&M on the same tier one real estate as Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, or Ohio St? Sure those programs don’t have a fake military, but they have a continuous HISTORY of football relevance.

Congrats to Texas am and Elko thats a great hire!

Aggies now "What a great hire, I think he is a great fit" Aggies in three to four years "He's got to go, that sorry Son of ****** can't win a game". Typical of now days see it in business its all about instant satisfaction. 🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣

Texas A&m is the one football program in the country that looks in the mirror and sees an elaborate beauty queen.... When in reality they look like the girl next door

Coaching at Duke is not the same as coaching at A&M. This will not go well.

So, A&M fans are happier about a guy who just finished 7-5 in the ACC and lost 23-0 to Louisville than a guy who also finished 7-5 has had two 10 win seasons at an SEC school with 0 five star recruits and beat Louisville ? 😂 Typical A&M fans

It's almost like you forgot what you said sbout this job. Not even 2 weeks ago you said their AD had a coaching pool from any candidate they wanted outside of Saban and they were all realistic. That's directly from your segment on the search. Which meant Dabo, Lanning, Deboer, etc. Nowhere in that show did you preach to us about how that wasn't realistic, never gonna happen, or anything. You said they had candidates Miss St can't get. Remember "keystone program" that was going to steak an entrenched powerful coach just like USC which is the example you used. Now it's USC is a one off? There's a lot more and it gets more embarrassing if you listen to the old segment and then listen to this. I get you dont like to be wrong about anything ever but this walkback is hilarious.

Wow. You really 180’d from last week. And the elite programs do get grand slam hires. Dont forget Urban at OH ST. A&M isn’t elite.

How come people reacted so harshly to stoops he’s done a good job at Kentucky

All of that crap you and aggies talked about this job, get whoever they want...lol. in the end the only 3 that wanted it were at Duke, Kentucky and UT-San Antonio.

Congrats TAMU you spent 76 million on an 8 and 4 coach with no championships.

You’re not going to convince me that Elko is sooooo much better than Stoops that the outrage shouldn’t be similar lol.

Urba Meyer: Grand Slam.

Jimbo fired for 7-5 in sec. Answer hire Elko who’s 7-5 in the ACC. Aggies won’t ever get past 8-4 bc of their administration not bc of their players of coaches.

Jimbo. He was a grand slam hire - championship coach. They had him. And they couldn’t do it.

Kalen DeBoer turned out to be a home run hire at Washington. But I don't think anyone envisioned it at the time - certainly not nationally from a media standpoint

Ohio State getting Urban Meyer would be one. On paper, A&M getting Fisher was thought to be one at the time.

Nailed it. This is a good, not great hire. A solid base hit. Maybe he can stretch to extra bases. Welcome aboard Coach Elko. Happy to have you.

Bad business. We could have backed the truck up for Elko, kept him at A&M, promoted from within, and saved millions.

To be fair, multiple people claimed Schiano knew about Sandusky's antics, so us Tennessee fans revolting about his hire had more gravitas than A&M fans just not liking Stoops' face.

Just don’t hand him a blank championship plaque at the press conference A&M.

You lost a lot of credibility in this search. You made us think a lot of interest in this job. Duke was 7th place in Acc.

Stoops can win 7-8 at Kentucky. He could win big at a and m. Elko will flush out in 3 years.

The only reason why they take the job 😮is cause the huge amount of money 💴 they throw , this is why the Aggies r never gonna be contender again in the sec , should had stay in the big 12 , try to go somewhere where they don’t fit , the shirt is too big 😮

We’re not asking you, we’re telling you that you were wrong. A&M is a bad job right now, you just don’t know what makes a tier 1 job. Even Bama can be a bad job, Texas used to be a bad job.

Elko was the best hire for Fisher. Since he left we tanked. Will he be the awnser year one? I don't think so. But the reason we had the defense we have was because of Elko. Elko, Robinson should be beautiful, I'm not sure petrino will stay.

Look, as a Duke fan I'm sorry to see Elko go, but we'll hire another good coach. I'd love to see someone come up who has won at the G5 level. Now, for Elko. A &M hired a good coach. He'll be a consistent seven to eight game a year winner. And that's about it. But I don't see him winning championships. Just look at the neighborhood he's in. Gonna be tough. But I do see them becoming more consistent!

This is why I listen to Josh. He’s detailed oriented & I appreciate that

aTm better get Elko on a weight plan so he can finish his contract. Dude looks like a walking heart attack.

Way to go aggy. You always know how to keep us entertained with your incompetence. Who in their right mind pays one coach over $70MM to walk away then turns around and hires a guy that was 7-5 at Duke with a loss against what may be the worst P5 team in the country this year? Looking forward to the lulz with the upcoming AD search and the next HC search in a couple of year.

Josh, two points for the discussion. Lincoln Riley did not make the strategic error when he was hired. USC did. Lincoln Riley has never recruited for the defense. Had USC skimmed his past, they would have realized this. Second point. Ohio State made a grand slam hire with Urban Meyer. Won two titles at Florida. Yes, he was not coach at Florida when he was hired.

Ryan Day is a great hire if you wanna take a program and leave it right where it is. It won't get worse, but it won't get better either.

How about Brian Kelly to LSU

A&M has a cultural problem , so why bring in a dude drom that culture?

You missed a chance to actually highlight A&M to support your theory. The only other championship coach to be hired by a new employer that was not retired was by A&M with jimbo.

I don’t think it’s that the grand slam hire doesn’t exist. It’s that we never really know who it is.

Now they have to pay $76 million to Jimbo and you can be assured that Elko required a high buyout in case A&M decides to ditch him. Mistake to fire Jimbo.

Grand Slam Hire: Chip Kelly at UCLA when the deal was made. Didn't turn out to be grand slam results, but it was a huge signing at the time.

Is he going to WIN the SEC championship 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Bama fan here! Only reason I despised A&M was because of Jimbo Fisher. I love Mike Elko, makes me dislike them a little less lol

As an Aggie, my 1st choice was immediately Elko. So damn happy that Stoops was denied. Great hire Aggies! So excited.

Congrats Elko. You will have 2-4 mediocre seasons and get roasted by the fickle A&M alum. A&M has the most unrealistic expectations of any school in the country.

Even though Elko was A&M's 3rd or maybe 4th choice, this is the best hire they could have done. Not a bad hire, but whether he can get the Aggies back to national prestige is still up in the air, even with all the good players they have. Defense is already strong enough (also Elko's strong suit), but the offense is suspect (even with Petrino around).

KY just beat Louisville. Duke scored ZERO points against Louisville. Good luck.

A&M technically had a grand slam hire, we saw how that played out for them

Josh Pate is some A&M fanboy lol! And he knows damn well he’s underwhelmed by this hire, I mean this guy is 7-5 at Duke lol.

He absolutely killed this segment damn💯

I read the title and was so confused. I was like “I could’ve sworn I saw Stoops was confirmed as the coach,” and then realized I missed a big time news drop that it got overturned.

Elko is a huge get. This is great for Aggie football.

Urban Meyer at Ohio State was a grand slam hire.

What about Urban Meyer?

USC getting Steve Spurrier

Just a thought: Jimbo Fisher was a "grand slam" hire when he came to A&M. Had a championship and everything.

Remember when Urban Meyer was hired at OSU, he did delivered.

Kirby was very much a part of Alabama's championship teams and went on to take Georgia to a national championship game in his first 2 years on the job. Now he has that team going for their 3rd consecutive championship. Sounds like a grandslam hire to me.

I think Mike Elko is the perfect choice to maintain the mediocrity that is the Texas A&M football program.

While I’m happy Mark is staying put it seems that A&M has some delusional expectations. They certainly are a good program and have history but since joining the SEC they have been more bluster than results. They need a guy to build a program… not someone who, as you said, is there to win the press conference.