Mike Elko recalls hiring process of Tommy Moffitt
In the college football world, Tommy Moffitt’s name is revered. Moffitt spent 21 years as LSU’s strength and conditioning coach. For his final five seasons at LSU, he also served as the team’s assistant athletic director.
During his tenure with the Tigers, Moffitt spent time under head coaches Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron. He was instrumental in LSU hauling in three national championships. His name became synonymous with strength and conditioning.
When Mike Elko left Duke to become Texas A&M’s next head coach, his former strength and conditioning coach Dave Feeley could not join him due to family reasons. With Feeley unavailable, Elko was left to find a new leader in the weight room. Evidently, it didn’t take long.
“Tommy Moffitt actually was one of the people who reached out and said, ‘I got a lot of interest in the job,'” Elko told On3’s Andy Staples. “Obviously, that’s a call that you have to take. You can’t not take the call from the legend of the strength and conditioning industry.”
Moffitt has won multiple Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year awards in his expansive career. In his 25 years in college football, he has never coached a team that has not reached a bowl game. Evidently, he hasn’t lost his touch, either.
“When I got on the phone, two things jumped out to me really, really quickly,” Elko said. “One was how modernized his thoughts were, and how much he has evolved over the years to match what sports science has brought to strength and conditioning.
“Then, just his hunger still. I think he’s a guy who’s obviously accomplished so much in college football in strength and conditioning, but is extremely hungry to go build another program. Leave his mark on another university. I think he’s extremely hungry to get back into that national championship picture. When you combine those two things, I don’t know that there’s much more you could be looking for.”
Music to Texas A&M fans’ ears. Elko joins the Aggies with just two years of head coaching experience, but also brings a familiarity with the program.
Prior to his last two seasons with Duke, Elko spent four seasons with Texas A&M as the team’s defensive coordinator and safeties coach, where he helped lead the Aggies to a top-three scoring defense in his last two seasons in College Station.
Elko now returns to College Station after two impressive seasons with the Blue Devils, leading them to 9-4 finish in his first season at the helm, where he was named ACC Coach of the Year.