Did Texas A&M Football Fans Bully Bjork into Not Hiring Stoops?

Texas A&M football deal with Stoops falls through; Aggie fans responsible?

So, uh, I’m not sure if you were awake for all this, given that it happened so close to midnight, but Texas A&M football fans may have just pulled a Tennessee and Schiano situation. Hours after a report surfaced from Billy Liucci and several other sources that Mark Stoops would be named the head coach of Texas A&M football within the coming day or so, reports have now emerged that Stoops will not, in fact, be the guy for the Aggies. It appears that the Aggie faithful’s outcry was loud enough against this that the decision makers decided to reverse course.

This thing seemed sure enough to go through that I had my story written about the hire and ready to go in the morning when the official announcement dropped. The way this was being talked about, while all sources repeatedly emphasized that nothing was final, seemed as though this was a deal that was rounding third and heading for home. This is a really shocking reversal on one level, but—of course—we’ve seen this exact scenario play out before.

So who do the Aggies turn to now? It seems that the players, at least, would love to see interim Elijah Robinson get his chance at the full time gig. Jacoby Mathews wrote an impassioned social media post asking as much, and several more players have posted their support for him. I think an Elko hire would go over well in the locker room, too—there’s only one class that he wasn’t on staff to recruit, and even those he would have had some contact with in their earlier years. Could Jedd Fisch get an interview? Who knows? Whoever it is, hopefully the Aggies can get this sewn up fast.

I can’t believe this all actually happened.