Why Hasn't Texas A&M Football Hired a Defensive Coordinator Yet?

Why Hasn't Texas A&M Football Made a Hire for DC Yet?

New head man for Texas A&M football, Mike Elko, has really knocked it out of the park thus far with the hires he has made for his initial staff. Adding up and comers like OC Collin Klein, as well as luminaries and legends such as Tommy Moffitt, I don't think there's been one single hire I haven't liked.

The bigger topic of discussion among Texas A&M football fans at the moment, however, is a hire he hasn't made. The Aggies are still without a defensive coordinator, and there hasn't been much mention of any leading names from insiders.

This has been a source of some consternation for certain Aggie fans. As defenders enter the portal (though this has definitely been a tide that has been stemmed as of late), the anxiousness to get a guy in that position who can head up the effort to bring players back has reached a fever pitch in some places.

Not only that, but there are defensive high school commitments that have been wavering, including LB Tyanthony Smith. All this together has made for quite a bit of dissatisfaction among a certain corner of the A&M fanbase. So, what's going on?

I think that Coach Elko is taking his time with this DC hire. I really am not of the opinion that an opening at that coordinator spot is having a deleterious effect on the Aggies' efforts either in the portal or when it comes to high school recruiting. Texas A&M football landed one of the top portal defensive backs very recently, and they are trending for more. Additionally, one of the top EDGE players in the nation, Solomon Williams, is giving the Aggies a hard look.

The fact of the matter is that coach Elko can tell these recruits and transfers about the defense they will be running, because it will be his defense. He can talk scheme and fit to them because it will be molded after his vision. The guy he gets to run that defense, while possibly an aid in recruiting at this moment, is less of a priority than getting the coordinator in on the other side of the ball since Elko is a defensive guy.

Hopefully we hear soon about some DC news. I would imagine that by mid-January at the latest, the Aggies will have a guy in place—recall that Elko himself wasn't even officially hired until about that timeframe when he came to College Station as a DC. In that time, though, I trust Elko to have that side of the ball handled.