Texas A&M still has a full offensive staff in place, but there's little doubt that they will be making some major changes after this season. Elko opted for continuity this past offseason, and it came back to bite him in the end— the promotions and internal hires he made have almost universally backfired.
So where will the Aggies turn at this point? Here are three names that fans should be keeping in mind and watching closely down the stretch of this season.
Three offensive coordinator options Mike Elko should be keeping a close eye on already
Wake Forest OC Rob Ezell
You may remember Ezell from an old video in the Alabama locker room where a walk-on was doing a dead-on impersonation of Nick Saban. He's moved on from that viral moment to one heck of a coaching career so far, and right now, he's coordinating the 8th-best offense in the country on a yards per play basis.
It's highly impressive that he's doing this with Wake's talent level, but when you take a look over the past few years that he's been an OC, you see that he has also done an amazing job at molding his system around the talent that's in the room.
The biggest knock on the Aggies' staff this year is their inability to do just that. Sometimes, the plays are there for Marcel and company, but they are plays that the personnel has not been able to reliably execute; A&M needs a guy, like Ezell, who can fix that kind of thing.
Texas State HC GJ Kinne
Kinne has had his name floated for a number of big time jobs, but he still hasn't really been the prime candidate of a given cycle yet. Given that reality, it seems like a solid possibility that he could make a jump from the G6 HC level to becoming a P4 coordinator, much like Kane Wommack, Alabama's DC, did when he left the head job at South Alabama for a coordinator spot in Tuscaloosa.
You have the looming shadow of Baylor, who is in the market for a head coach, but if they decide to go another way (like Jeff Traylor), then Kinne could be open to coming over to College Station as some kind of assistant HC/OC hybrid. That would be an excellent move for the Aggies, as there are very few names better than Kinne at reliably and consistently creating offense regardless of personnel.
Even when his offenses go up against high-level defenses, they've been able to be productive. Texas State ran through the Texas defense like a knife through hot butter earlier in the year (timely turnovers kept them off the scoreboard, but the success rates and yardage totals are telling). This may be a longer shot, but Kinne is a name to keep in mind.
Northwestern OC Chip Kelly
You may see this name and think of a guy who is far outdated and past his prime, but that would mean you haven't been paying attention to Northwestern football this season. Which I honestly can't really blame you for, in fairness.
Kelly has been absolutely rocking it as the OC for the Wildcats, who broke into the Top 25 recently before sustaining a loss at Oregon this past week. His offense has been extremely dynamic and multiple, and he's been excellent at adapting his scheme to the personnel he has been working with.
When the Wildcats played Penn State earlier this year, they shifted all of a sudden into a full Wing-T offensive attack out of nowhere, and it was extremely effective. He's been one of the most adaptable and interesting offensive minds this college football season, and though there are still some question marks— how much will he love recruiting, for example— this would be an awesome on-field option.
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