After a tumultuous 24 hours, Texas A&M has found Jimbo Fisher’s successor. The Aggies are hiring Duke’s Mike Elko as the program’s 30th head coach, the Houston Chronicle’s Brent Zwerneman first reported Sunday afternoon.
Elko takes over the Aggies’ program after two seasons in Durham where he guided the Blue Devils to a 16-9 (9-7 ACC) record. The 46-year old New Jersey native inherited a Duke program that had won just 10 games in the three years prior to his arrival and earned ACC Coach of the Year honors a season ago.
Before his first head coaching job at Duke, Elko spent four years as Jimbo Fisher’s defensive coordinator at Texas A&M. Elko served stints as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Bowling Green.
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Texas A&M turned to Elko a day after multiple outlets reported the Aggies were hiring Kentucky’s Mark Stoops as its head coach. Stoops posted on X that he decided to stay at Kentucky while other reported Texas A&M got cold feet after te fanbase’s negative reaction to the reported hiring.
The Aggies search had been linked to a number of candidates including Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and UTSA’s Jeff Traylor.
Texas A&M previously fired Fisher after posting a 45-25 record in just under six seasons in College Station including a disappointing previous two seasons.
The Aggies are one of two SEC schools that have moved on from their head coach this offseason with Mississippi State moving on from Zach Arnett after one season. The Bulldogs have yet to announce their newest head coach.
