Texas A&M coaching candidates: Pete Thamel reveals latest possibilities for Aggies football

The Texas A&M coaching vacancy is one to behold and ESPN’s Pete Thamel gave the latest on the search, following the firing of Jimbo Fisher.

With more money than the school seems to know what to do with, Texas A&M could make a big splash. However, it’s going to be hard to do that at the moment, according to Thamel.

The college football insider already ruled out a big name on the west coast.

“Well Jimbo is out deer hunting Rece, Texas A&M is gonna attempt to go big game hunting,” Thamel said on College GameDay. “The early tenor from that search is that A&M will likely not land a big name $10 million a year coach. Think about a guy like Kalen DeBoer. It’s going to be hard to pry him out of Washington right now, as the Huskies are undefeated and obviously in the thick of the CFP race. It’s really difficult to supplant the coach running for a title.” 

Thamel then rattled off the likely, and logical, candidates for the Aggies opening.

“Here’s a few names in tiers Rece: look for a solid Power Five coach somebody like Lane Kiffin, Chris Klieman at Kansas State, Lance Leipold at Kansas and obviously former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, Mike Elko, who is resuscitated Duke during his time there,” Thamel said.

“And then there’s a local option which is interesting. Jeff Traylor, the the coach at UTSA. He’s a former Texas high school coach, could he rally the state and build A&M from within? Nobody’s won a league title at Texas A&M since 1998. Four coaches have tried, could Traylor be the answer?”

Jeff Traylor interviews for Texas A&M job

Traylor could be at the top of Texas A&M’s wishlist. At the very least, we now know he is a serious candidate after reportedly talking to AD Ross Bjork this week.

According to Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, Traylor interviewed for the Texas A&M job on Tuesday. Traylor is somebody with deep ties to the state of Texas, ranging from high school football and even being an assistant coach in the college game.

“Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork interviewed UTSA coach Jeff Traylor on Tuesday for the Aggies’ head football coaching vacancy, an A&M source told the American-Statesman on Thursday,” Bohl said.

“Bjork interviewed Traylor for 90 minutes on a Zoom call, a conversation that lasted an hour longer than had been scheduled.”