Mike Elko Introduced as Head Coach
Nov 27, 2023 | Football
Mike Elko was introduced as the new head football coach at Texas A&M University on Monday afternoon before the 12th Man inside the Ford Hall of Champions.
Watch the Welcome Celebration below, featuring Elko, the Voice of the Aggies Andrew Monaco, Interim President Mark A. Welsh III and Director of Athletics Ross Bjork. A full transcript is posted as well.
Following the celebration, Elko held a press conference inside the Kyle Field Media Center.
Here to build the best ??#GigEm pic.twitter.com/Qf5Q1HpY14
— Texas A&M Football (@AggieFootball) November 27, 2023
Mike Elko Welcome Celebration Transcript
(transcript courtesy Caption Pros)
ANDREW MONACO: Howdy. They are undefeated at halftime, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. Thank you for being here.
To our Yell leaders, thank you for being here. (Applause)
To all of you in attendance this afternoon, thank you for being here.
I'm Andrew Monaco, the voice of the Aggies. Very pleased to be here. What an exciting afternoon, that is for sure. I would like to introduce some of our distinguished guests to this event, beginning with the Texas A&M University Board of Regents member Sam Torn. (Applause)
Texas A&M University Board of Regents member Jay Graham. (Applause)
Texas A&M University System Chancellor, John Sharp. (Applause)
12th Man Foundation Board of Trustees. (Applause)
Former Texas A&M football coach R.C. Slocum and his wife, Nel. (Applause)
It is now my pleasure to welcome to this podium Texas A&M Interim President, Mark A. Welsh III, for some brief remarks.
MARK WELSH III: Howdy.
Andrew, thank you for being here and bringing the voice of Aggieland to this great gathering this afternoon.
Let me start by saying thank you to our interim head coach, Elijah Robinson. (Applause)
I don't know how all of you felt about this, but I saw him bring the joy back to Aggie football. I saw the team, the great athletes we have on that football team, playing incredibly hard for their coach. I just want Coach Robinson to know that he and the players made all of us very, very proud. Thank you, sir. (Applause)
I think our intercollegiate teams, in general, generate an incredible amount of pride in this university and they generate pride in all of us. They also represent A&M and our core values to an incredibly broad audience. I think they help us attract and admit students from all points of the compass and then teach those students dedication, value of hard work, attention to detail, practical leadership, and how to succeed as part of a team -- all things that are going to help them for life.
Our athletic teams also bring Aggies together in a remarkable way for a common cause. They unite us, which in these divisive times is a really, really good thing in my mind. And nowhere is that more evident than in Kyle Field on a fall Saturday afternoon -- or morning -- or evening, which is why today is so important to our university and to Aggies everywhere.
I would like to offer my thanks to our Athletic Director, Ross Bjork, and Executive Deputy Athletic Director, Justin Moore, for organizing this search, for their extreme diligence in vetting candidates, and for the detailed analysis that supported discussions around each potential candidate.
I would also like to thank Coach R.C. Slocum -- still the winningest coach in the history of Texas A&M (applause) -- for the insight that R.C. offered to Ross and especially to me as the process hit the adrenaline rush stage.
R.C., thank you.
And one final thank you to the staff, the donors, the Chairman and the great CEO Travis Dabney of the 12th Man Foundation for making greatness possible in Aggie Athletics in general.
It turns out that hiring a top-tier major football coach is complicated. It's hard and it's a little bit scary for the people trying to organize the search. And let me just share a couple of lessons I personally learned, because I've never done this before or watched it being done.
The first one is you can't make everyone happy. Really important lesson to remember. The second one is that the rumor mill is stupendous! The third one is that facts are sometimes optional on social media. And the fourth one is that nothing is final until it's final.
The search also reminded me of the passion that surrounds Aggie football. And while it can sometimes be inconvenient to work through, some people tell me, in the big scheme of things, it's a gigantic plus for A&M football and for every other sport.
On Thanksgiving Day, I spent some time with my family, and I was reminded that no matter how you choose to mix the ingredients, the best thing about baking a cake is what comes out of the oven. And the best thing about the process we went through is that Mike Elko is sitting right there. (Applause)
And that the Aggies have a proven world-class football coach. 25 years of coaching experience, about a third of that in the toughest conferences in America. He's a proven winner. He's a proven head coach, and all of us have seen what he can do. During his four years as defensive coordinator at A&M, we watched his defense lead us to a 34-14 record and four consecutive bowl games.
You know, I'm like you. I'm enough of a football fan that I should probably be a head coach somewhere. (Laughter.) Or at least a coordinator.
But I've always thought that if you are going to measure the success of a defensive coach, scoring defense was the bottom line. And in his final years as DC here in Aggieland, his defense ranked number three in the nation in that category. The guy can flat-out coach. He proved it to everyone in the country as a head coach for the last two years at Duke.
Not long ago, Interim Coach [Elijah] Robinson made a comment that I thought was spectacular. He mentioned that when he talks to Aggie recruits, as he tries to talk to them about the value of Texas A&M, or the wisdom of leaving Texas A&M, he mentions to them that this is a 40-year decision, not a four-year decision.
Coach, that was brilliant.
I know Coach [Mike] Elko feels exactly the same about that, because he understands the power of the Aggie network, and he understands the positive influence it will have on his players literally forever. He also understands the power of engagement with Aggie fans, with supporters, with former students, and with his colleagues here on campus. I know that because he told me that. And I believed him.
And he fully understands the passion and the pride Aggies feel about a well-led, well-coached and, okay, well-ranked football program. And he took the job anyway.
And Coach, we are very lucky and grateful that you did. To you, Michelle, and your entire family, and on behalf of everyone at Texas A&M University, welcome home. And beat the hell out of everybody! (Applause)
ANDREW MONACO: Please welcome to the podium Texas A&M Director of Athletics, Ross Bjork. (Applause)
ROSS BJORK: Howdy. Thank you. Thank you, Andrew, the voice of the Aggies. Is he the best or what? We got the best voice of the Aggies we could ever have. So thank you, Andrew.
Okay. That's what a four-star general sounds like. So I'm not sure I can stack up to President [Mark] Welsh and his comments, but thank you for your support and your leadership throughout this entire process.
It is a great day to be a Fightin' Texas Aggie, right? Absolutely. And really it's an exciting day for all of Texas A&M, for Texas A&M Athletics, but especially our football program.
We are so excited to welcome -- actually introduce -- no, no, no, those are the wrong words, welcome back to Aggieland Coach [Mike] Elko and obviously his entire family. We will get to them here in a second.
First off, Elijah [Robinson], will you actually -- can you step forward, please, so we can see you? (Applause)
Here, I want to -- Absolutely. Absolutely. (Applause) Absolutely. Yep. Yep. Yep. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.
All of us just want to thank Coach [Elijah] Robinson for leading this team with poise, grace, and just presence. And he had fun, and the team had fun the last couple of weeks. And we're not over yet. We're not over yet. And so we played great football. There's more to come during the bowl game. Elijah [Robinson] will continue to lead our team as the acting head coach for our bowl game.
I also want to appreciate and thank our players. I know we have got some of them, if they would kind of wave. I appreciate your leadership and how you guys have handled all of this. (Applause)
We laid out our profile on November 12th, two weeks ago. We wanted to be very specific about what I envisioned Texas A&M football needed to compete at the highest level. We talked about an established program identity, a track record of player development, recruiting machine, culture of discipline. I was just in that team meeting with Coach [Mike] Elko, and there will be a culture of discipline and accountability. Strong leadership skills, someone that understands modern football and can capitalize in the era of college athletics that we're in. Mike Elko checks the box and then some.
Our mission for Texas A&M Athletics is to create opportunities through championship athletics. As home of the 12th Man, the vision is to be the pinnacle and those opportunities realized, diplomas earned, championships won, and leaders equipped and launched to impact the world.
So how does this match what we envision for Aggie football? It's real simple: Be a perennial College Football Playoff contender and participate, obviously, when it goes to 12; win the SEC championship; and then win the national championship.
During our process, we researched all the teams who have won SEC championships and the national championship in the College Football Playoff era. We broke down each team, and the more you look at it, the simpler it gets. The majority of the winners have these things in common: A defensive-minded head coach; championship-level culture; recruit and acquire elite, elite NFL-type talent; play great offense and score a lot of points with a high-level quarterback. Those are the ingredients that we researched.
So here's the process. First, I want to thank all of those who helped along the way, President [Mark] Welsh, I think I talked to you more than I talked to my family in the last couple of weeks. Our phones were attached to our ears. He was a tremendous resource and just talking about leadership and culture and those things.
Chancellor [John] Sharp, our Board of Regents, thank you for all of your support. Our advisory group that President Welsh mentioned, Justin [Moore] is over here, R.C. [Slocum], Travis Dabney, all of the resources that we had understand football, Texas A&M, and finances. We need all of those ingredients to be successful in this process.
I also want to thank our search firm, Turnkey Sports, and Chad Chatlos for assisting us in our process.
Coach [R.C.] Slocum, his counsel, his advice, he's beloved by our community. I want to personally acknowledge you once again, Coach, for everything that you do for Texas A&M.
And Justin [Moore], Justin likes to use the word "elite" a lot. And so he knows what elite football operations look like and should look like, and so he was a rock during the process.
So given the time that we had -- or no time, or no sleep, if you will -- we engaged close to 30 coaches in our process either directly or indirectly through our search firm, through their agents, or directly with the coach and our search firm.
It was actually great to hear the validation of how people view Texas A&M football. That process helped crystallize the identity of our ideal candidate and why we had major interest from sitting head coaches across the country.
The fun part for me, actually, was being able to speak to at least 25 former Aggie football players. We have former players who are coaching in the NFL, as head coaches, as assistant coaches, players that are connected in the game of football. And the feedback from them is really consistent. This is really, really fascinating.
Here's what they identified: They see the opportunity. They want to win championships. They want a tough-minded program. In fact, one of them said, "I want to be the intimidating bully of college football." And that actually came from an offensive player.
They want a program that they can say: This is what Aggie football is, an identity. They want a program that develops players each year. They want a program they can be proud of when they have that Aggie ring and a program that embraces the Aggie traditions.
So I appreciate this perspective. And obviously, that matches Coach Mike Elko. The other thing it matches is: When is Kyle Field at its best? When is Kyle Field at its best? When the defense plays at an elite level. So all of those things match what we were looking for. So given all of this, we got it right. We got it right.
Coach Mike Elko is a modern-day and innovative football coach with a blue-collar mentality. That fits perfectly here at Texas A&M. He played the game. He says he wasn't very good, but I'm not sure about that. He got an Ivy League education. He then paid his dues by working all over college football, and now has head coaching experience at a high level.
This great game of football and the opportunities presented to him, they mean something personally to him and his family. Those are the ingredients that I saw firsthand when he was here before.
Coach [Mike] Elko is also viewed as one of the best leaders in college football, a leader who's on the cutting edge, a leader who develops his staff to be great leaders and coaches, a leader who is constantly learning, a leader who is already a voice in this modern era of college athletics.
And to top it off, he's one of the best football IQs in the coaching world. He possesses a great vision for Aggie football, a specific plan for innovation and greatness, which is exactly what we need right now to compete in the SEC and to compete for championships.
So please welcome back Michelle, Kaitlyn, Andrew, and Michael, and especially your new head football coach, Mike Elko!
(Cheers and applause)
MIKE ELKO: I'm showing off my innovative skills here with the iPad in the press conference. Howdy.
AUDIENCE: Howdy! Whoop!
MIKE ELKO: Let's do that one more time. Howdy.
AUDIENCE: Howdy! Whoop!
MIKE ELKO: I can't tell you how excited I am to be back at this great institution. This place was so special to me the last time I was here. We made so many fond, special memories of this place. I couldn't be more thankful to be back. To see so many familiar faces in the crowd, it's just an awesome day. It's an awesome day for me and my family.
I want to start with a bunch of thank yous, because I think those are really important. First of all, thank you to Chancellor John Sharp and the Board of Regents for believing in me. There is a lot of people out there who want to be the head football coach at Texas A&M. To entrust me to be that guy and lead this program into this new era, I'm forever grateful.
To President Mark Welsh, I got a chance to visit with him a little bit going through this process. What a tremendous leader. Leadership just jumps off the phone when you get a chance to speak to him. You saw that earlier when he was up here on the podium.
I am going to take you up on being a coordinator as we go through this process. You might be considered as we go through it.
Thank you, Athletic Director Ross Bjork, for believing in me, believing in my vision, believing in what we were capable of being. Again, there were a lot of different ways you could have gone with this search. Extremely thankful to be here and be on this podium.
To Executive Deputy Athletic Director Justin Moore and his vision for football. I don't know where Justin is. There he is. His vision for football and where this football program sits in the modern era of college really inspired me to come being part of it.
To my wife, my absolute rock who has been through this with me from day one, from the beginning, when we were a defensive coordinator at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, which I'm sure none of you have ever heard of -- (laughter) -- to the last year I was a defensive coordinator here at Texas A&M. And every step along the way, she has been by my side supporting me through this.
To my kids, to Michael, Andrew and Kaitlyn, you don't know how many sacrifices children have to make to allow their father to do the things that I get to do. It is a tough life to be a football coach. And the sacrifices they've made to allow me to be here, and be where I am today, is unique.
To my mom and dad, who put a lot into raising me, and making me the man I am today, to do everything I've done today, to make them proud, and continue to try to make them proud.
To some of my mentors, to Dave Clawson, a man who hired me for the first time when I was 23 years old and didn't know an X from an O and had no idea what I was doing, and really helped mentor me and develop me into the coach and the man that I am today.
To President [Vincent] Price and Nina King for giving me an opportunity to lead a tremendous program at Duke University and resourcing me and providing me the opportunity to do the things that we did there that created this opportunity for me.
To a couple of special groups, first of all, to the Texas High School Coaches Association. Okay, I understand our role in representing this great state of high school football, the talent -- Yeah, give them a round of applause. (Applause)
The talent in this state, the programs in this state, the coaching in this state, it is absolutely elite. And we understand our role in partnering with that group and becoming a resource for all the elite and all the aspiring high school coaches in this state. We will connect with them. We will reach out to them. We will be open to them. And they will always have a place in our program.
To the former players, okay, this is and forever will be your program. I see some of them out here. I've had so many of them reach out to me today congratulating me, thanking me, all of that. This is your program. I am a steward of your program. It's my job to provide the leadership and the vision to take what you have laid your blood, sweat, and tears into to new levels and new heights. And I take a lot of responsibility and a lot of pride in doing that the right way.
Good, made it through that. (Chuckles)
I'm back. I'm back in Aggieland! (Cheers and Applause).
I'm back where I belong. I'm back at a place where we considered home for four amazing years of this coaching journey. This is a special time to be the leader of this great football program.
From the moment I came down here, back in 2018, I've been blown away by this place: Resourced as the premier football program in the country; supported by the 12 Man, the absolute best fan base in the country; a football program and university rooted in tradition that links all of our former students like no other university across this great nation.
I was told very early on here in my time that Aggies take care of Aggies. Since then, I've seen that play out time and time again. This place is special. The people that have been through here is special. We are going to continue to do special things.
My vision for this program is very simple. We are going to build the premier football program in the country, okay? We are not going to talk about it anymore. We are going to be about it. We are going to chase excellence in every aspect of our life. We are going to be excellent in the classroom. We are going to earn degrees. We are going to get our Aggie rings. We are going to become great members of this great university.
We are going to be excellent in the community, okay? We will be selfless servants like this university stands for. We will get out in the community. We will represent this university with pride. We will make choices that represent this university with pride, and we will do things that embody and represent this program at the highest level the way it should be.
We will become the absolute best version of ourself as quickly as possible, because the best version of Texas A&M football wins the national championship. The best version of Texas A&M football, our way, wins the national championship. But we also embrace who we are right now and where we need to work and where we need to improve to get where we want to go.
There is no elevator. I say this to my players all the time. There is no button you push to get to the top of college football. There's a stair that you have to climb every single day to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Nobody will hand us anything, not in this conference, not in this country, not in this era of college football. We are going to have to go out, we are going to have to work, and we are going to have to get it.
We are going to develop a blue-collar mentality and understand that there are no shortcuts to success. We are going to roll up our sleeves. We are going to go to work every day, and we will accomplish amazing and great things here very, very quickly.
We will adapt to the modern era of college football and all that that means. We will be innovative in our thinking. Like all great organizations, we will lay out a clear blueprint for success, but we will adapt and adjust along the way where necessary to perform this program to great heights.
We will develop men. We will graduate players, and we will win championships on the field on Saturdays.
This program and this job comes with a lot of expectations, and I'm ready for them. I'm ready for everything that this program should be about. I'm ready to take this program everywhere where it wants to go. I cannot wait to roll up my sleeves and go to work.
Thank you so much for believing in me. Thank you so much for allowing me and my family this opportunity. We will make you extremely proud starting this fall on Saturdays, I promise you that. Thank you.
(Cheers and applause)
