Paul Finebaum reacts to Texas A&M coaching search, landing on Mike Elko

It wasn’t a smooth process, but Texas A&M has its next head coach. During an appearance on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning,” Paul Finebaum weighed in on the Aggies’ decision to hire former Duke head coach Mike Elko.

“It’s a good hire,” Finebaum said. “It’s not exactly the the Dan Lanning splash hire that many were talking about. But, I liked the fact the A&M has a very competent coach. He’s organized. I don’t think the moment is going to intimidate him. He did a very good job at Duke. We’ll see that opening win over Clemson a million times in the reels.”

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. Elko followed up this showing with a 7-4 record to end the 2023 regular season, highlighted by a 4-0 start to the season.

He also brings over 20 years of collegiate coaching experience to the table including defensive coordinator stops at Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and Bowling Green. Although Texas A&M ultimately landed on Elko, it didn’t always look like he was the future in College Station.

A winding road to Mike Elko

Late on Saturday evening, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops appeared to be heading to Texas A&M. However, after immense backlash from Aggies fans, the deal fell through. Finebaum was not surprised by the fan base’s reaction.

“You just don’t see what we saw Saturday night and not think that Mark Stoops was about to be the new coach at A&M,” Finebaum said. “It was a rather awkward statement that he put out, but that we’re used to that.

“Coaching searches are are ugly, and they shouldn’t be the way they are. But, when boosters give tens of millions of dollars to to help get rid of the old coach, do you not expect them to have a voice in what happens after that?”

On3’s Kaiden Smith also contributed to this article.