Texas A&M football: Mike Elko shoots down notion that he was dissing Jimbo Fisher
Mike Elko is very clear that he is not slamming former Texas A&M football coach Jimbo Fisher
In the afterglow of a huge win over the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M football head coach Mike Elko took the podium for his normal postgame presser. He answered some questions about his gutsy decision to put in Marcel Reed, what went wrong in the first half, and more.
He also took the time, appreciating the gravity of the moment, to give a passionate speech about what he and his staff are building in Aggieland. The video was passed around social media, as he made clear that, whatever your previous impression was, this program is built on substance—not flash.
Some heard his comments—specifically, comments about not being a program with a fast-talking, politician-like figure—and interpreted them to be a shot at the previous head man. This probably had a lot to do with the fact that many of the disgruntled fans had used those exact terms to describe Jimbo before.
As I suspected when I wrote about this, Elko was not, in fact, taking a shot at Jimbo. He apparently felt it was necessary to make that clear in today's presser.
Elko's not the kind of guy to throw shade in this fashion. If he had something negative to say about Jimbo, I think he would say it much more plainly and not be passive-aggressive about it.
Of course, I don't think he has much bad to say about Jimbo—it always seemed like they had a good relationship and that Elko was grateful that he brought him to College Station.
You can sense his frustration in this quote that he, at times, felt like the media was baiting him into taking a shot at Jimbo—bait he never took, of course.
If we've learned anything about him, it's that Coach Elko is a straightforward guy. He continues to show that in many different ways.