Rewarding assistants key in Elko signing extension at Texas A&M

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Texas A&M football coach Mike Elko indicated on Monday that pay increases for his assistant coaches and support staff were a major factor in his agreeing to a new contract.

With Texas A&M (10-0) undefeated, ranked No. 3 and a virtual lock for the College Football Playoff, Elko is an attractive target for any team in need of a head coach.

There were reports Penn State was pursuing Elko to fill its coaching vacancy.

But on Saturday, he agreed to a six-year contract extension that reportedly boosted his annual salary from $8 million to $11 million.

However, Elko said that wasn’t enough. His assistants had to be rewarded, too.

He said negotiations weren’t very eventful.

“I want to value people because I believe they do a good job, and I believe in what they’re doing,” Elko said during his weekly press conference. “That was the message to our administration.

“If you believe in this program and you believe in what we’re doing, this is what we believe that belief should look like. Everybody just kind of agreed. I don’t think there was much back and forth.

“Once we knew the university and the athletic department was willing to commit to the program the way they were, we were never going anywhere.”

In less than two seasons under Elko, A&M is 18-5. The Aggies are unbeaten through 10 games for the first time since 1992.

The A&M administration is obviously thrilled with the job done by Elko, who was hired in November of 2023 to replace Jimbo Fisher.

Elko is quick to acknowledge that he, alone, is not the reason for A&M’s success. That’s why it was so important to him that his assistants would be rewarded with substantial bonuses for attaining goals like reaching the Southeastern Conference championship game or the College Football Playoff.

“One of the things we were able to get done was a bonus structure for the assistants that kind of married something similar to the bonus structure that I have,” he said. “One of the things that was not right was the bonus structure I was going receive had we qualified for the playoffs that was not on par with the assistants.

“Certainly, I’m no more valuable to this team than they are, so we were able to get that done immediately. That will go into effect immediately.

“So that if this thing continues and we wind up getting rewarded with a playoff berth, those coaches who were a huge part of it will get rewarded at a very similar level. That was really important to me.”

Brian Jones

Mike Elko’s contract extension will keep him at Texas A&M until 2031.

Howell do you do

Elko had great praise for defensive end Cashius Howell, who is having an All-American-type season.

Howell had a sack on Saturday in a 31-30 victory over South Carolina. That boosted his total to 11.5, which leads the SEC and is second in the nation.

He also broke up three passes and had three other tackles. Howell clinched A&M’s victory when he prevented South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers from scrambling to pick up a first down on fourth-and-16.

“Let’s not give us (coaches) any credit for that,” Elko said. “That’s him. That play he made at the end of the game to win that football game… That is an elite-level play.

“Obviously, we dropped him (into coverage), and that is the scheme. But there’s a lot of people that drop a guy in that spot, and he doesn’t make that play.”

Elko added: “Great players can find ways to help you win football games. He certainly did that for us on Saturday.”

Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Cashius Howell has at least one sack in six of A&M’s seven conference games.

Kicking habits

Although kicker Randy Bond missed two field goals, including a 24-yarder, vs. South Carolina, Elko expressed confidence in him.

“Randy is still our guy. We still have confidence in Randy,” Elko said. “Obviously, two big misses on Saturday. Those are things we’ve got to try to get fixed.”

Bond is 11 of 18 on field goal attempts for an SEC-low 61.1 percent success rate.

Elko is optimistic Bond can regain his form from earlier this season and last season when he converted 83.3 percent (20 of 24).

“He had gone through a three- or four-week spell where he had not missed a kick,” Elko said. “We felt like we had gotten into a better rhythm from where we were at the beginning of the year. And then those misses came out of nowhere a little bit in the recent form.

“We’ll continue to evaluate it and try to get back into a position and kind of see where it’s at. Right now, Randy is our guy moving forward.”

Worst to first

The Aggies remain atop the SEC standings despite playing some of their worst football of Elko’s A&M tenure vs. South Carolina.

The problem started when quarterback Marcel Reed fumbled when sacked by South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart. Defensive lineman Nick Barrett returned the fumble 17 yards for a touchdown.

That gave South Carolina a 17-3 lead. The Gamecocks capitalized on two interceptions and an 80-yard touchdown pass to take a 30-3 lead at halftime.

“From the turnover to the half was probably the worst football we’ve played in my tenure here, going all the way back to defensive coordinator, too,” Elko said. “I think we were panicking. I think we were pressing. I think we were trying too hard to make things right that we just were making things worse.”

Despite the 27-point deficit, Elko said he was encouraged by the Aggies’ attitude at halftime.

“I told guys I was extremely proud of the locker room composure,” he said. “There was a lot of positive talk. There was a lot of talk about what we needed to do. There wasn’t a lot of arguing. There was not a lot of pointing fingers.

“There was just a sense of like, ‘We’ve got to fix this.’ That was the first sign there was a chance we could come out and do something.”

They did. The Aggies scored four consecutive touchdowns in the second half to rally for a 31-30 victory. It’s the largest comeback victory in program history.

NOTES

• Quarterback Marcel Reed on Monday was named the Associated Press Player of the Week for his performance in the 31-30 victory over South Carolina. Reed had a career-best 439 passing yards on 22 completions with three touchdowns and 13 rushing yards for a career-high 452 total yards.

• Elko announced players of the week for the game vs. South Carolina. Players honored included receivers KC Concepcion and Ashton Bethel-Roman (co-offensive players), safety Dalton Brooks (defense), punter Tyler White (special teams), T.J. Searcy (defensive lineman) and Chase Bisontis (offensive linemen). Scout team players cited were tight end Luke Braden (offense), defensive end Solomon Williams (defense) and receiver Blake Buntyn (special teams).

• Concepcion had seven catches for 158 yards vs. South Carolina. Bethel-Roman had four catches for 139 yards and a touchdown. They’re the first A&M receiving duo to have 100-yard performances in the same game since 2023, when Ainias Smith had seven catches for 127 yards and Jahdae Walker had five catches for 110 yards in a 47-3 victory over Louisiana-Monroe.