One of the most polarizing names that has come up in tandem with the Penn State football opening is Mike Elko. The current Texas A&M head coach seemingly has everything he would need to win and be happy in College Station.

The Aggies are currently 9-0 and well on their way to the college football playoffs, so why would Elko consider leaving that for Happy Valley?

Well, the New Jersey native has plenty of ties with the East Coast. Elko grew up in South Brunswick, New Jersey, just over an hour’s drive from Allentown, Pennsylvania. After high school, he went to Penn and played football and won the Ivy League championship in 1998.

Elko remained in the area for the beginning of his career. He worked with Stony Brook, Hofstra, and Fordham in New York and Richmond in Virginia.

Mixed reports have come out about whether Penn State will go after Elko. He is currently on a six-year deal for $42 million. The buyout would be 75% of what is still owed, should the Nittany Lions try to get him away in the first three years of his contract.

Some are saying, though, that Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Pat Kraft is going all out for him.

History

Elko played as the quarterback in high school and committed to play at Penn in the Ivy League. He was named the Greater Middlesex Conference’s top quarterback his senior year by the coaches. He also played baseball and basketball.

His first coaching gig was as a graduate assistant for Stony Brook, before moving to defensive backs coach during the spring of 2000. That role didn’t last long, though, as he went back to his alma mater in the same role for the 2000 season.

In 2001, Elko moved to the United States Merchant Marine Academy as a defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. The New Jersey native spent two seasons there before going to Fordham for his first role under Dave Clawson.

Clawson would work as Elko’s mentor for 12 years. Clawson hired the Texas A&M head coach four different times, at Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green, and Wake Forest. The two have talked in the past about the amount of respect they have for each other.

Elko did not work for Clawson for 12 years straight, though, as he joined Hofstra from 2006 to 2008.

In 2009, he joined Clawson at Bowling Green in the same role. The Falcons won the MAC in Elko’s final season in 2013. Bowling Green averaged just 15.9 points against per game on its way to beating No. 16 Northern Illinois in the championship.

Elko followed Clawson to Wake Forest the following season, where he worked as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach until 2016.

The New Jersey native took a big step in 2017, putting his name in the national conversation as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. In South Bend, he was named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award and helped the Fighting Irish to a 10-3 record and win over LSU in the Citrus Bowl.

In 2018, he joined Texas A&M as a defensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher and held the position for three seasons. In his first stint with the Aggies, Elko consistently had his team in the top 20 of overall defenses, despite a struggle to meet expectations overall.

Elko then shortly joined Duke as a head coach during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, before being rehired in College Station as the head coach of Texas A&M.

Is It Realistic?

Most likely, the answer Kraft will get from Elko, no matter how much he offers, is no. The head coach seemingly has everything he needs to be successful in the SEC and is proving he can build a national championship roster in College Station as you are reading this.

The best chance Penn State has is if Elko really wants to be closer to his family or friends from growing up, or if he feels he can really dominate the East Coast recruiting more than he can in Texas.

The Lone Star State is one of the premier areas for high school talent, but you have to fight against the likes of Texas, Houston, Baylor, SMU, and Texas Tech for every single one of them. Competition for Pennsylvania and New Jersey’s talent is much less.

The Nittany Lions would also have to worry about Elko being in the playoffs this season. Hiring him would mean potentially waiting for the middle of January for the new head coach, long past the transfer portal’s closing.