Texas A&M football coaching rumors: Aggie defensive assistants headed elsewhere?

Coaching rumors: Texas A&M football could see defensive staff shakeup soon

Texas A&M football fans came off of last year with some very particular grievances about certain coaches. The Aggie faithful were less than pleased with the way the defense turned out, and DC Jay Bateman was the target of plenty of ire.

Mike Elko was all too aware of this A&M team's issues. He spoke pretty bluntly about them after the Aggies' final game of the year, in a way that made Aggie fans think that some movement could be imminent on the coaching staff.

However, none of that has manifested up until this point. Elko added Lyle Hemphill to the staff recently, but there have been no other indications that Bateman could be leaving College Station— until a rumor broke last night.

The rumor began emerging about Bateman last night, as Aggies Today put out a story on his Patreon before tweeting out the gist.

Reporters from the Virginia Tech side of the equation confirmed AT's report, stating that the smoke around Bateman was indeed growing.

This didn't seem to please VT fans too terribly much, however.

With the word going around that Mike Elko is set to take over the defensive play calling duties for Texas A&M football next year, this is perhaps an anticipated change on some level. With the way the defense played near the end of last year, too, Aggie fans wouldn't exactly be terribly broken up to see Bateman out the door.

It's not just Bateman, however. Aggie fans were disappointed in particular with the way the Aggie defensive line played down the stretch, and the man responsible for that position group— Sean Spencer— could be following Bateman to Blacksburg if this whole thing goes through.

Take this one with a huge grain of salt given the source, but given that these are the two coaches that A&M fans targeted most as the fount of last year's issues, it just makes too much sense.

It remains to be seen if any of this comes to pass. If it does, I expect Elko to find quality replacements quickly, but if it is in fact true that Elko is calling the defense next year anyway, the stakes are a little bit lower than they otherwise would be.