Mike Elko has already made Texas A&M’s decision look like the right one.
After two seasons back in College Station, the former Aggies defensive coordinator has the program rolling at 19-7, capped by an 11-2 finish and Texas A&M’s first trip to the College Football Playoff last season. That kind of run has only sharpened the contrast with the Jimbo Fisher era that came before it.
Fisher arrived with massive expectations after winning a national title at Florida State and being billed as a quarterback guru. Texas A&M handed him a 10-year, $75 million deal, and the hope was that he’d turn championship-level recruiting into championship-level results.
Instead, the Aggies kept coming up short. Even with elite recruiting, including the still-historic 2022 class, Fisher’s teams were dragged down by a complicated scheme, quarterback injuries and discipline issues.
The slide showed up in the record. Texas A&M went 5-7 in 2022 and then opened 2023 at 6-4, which led to Fisher’s dismissal just a week before the end of the regular season. His tenure ended after six seasons, and the school is still paying off his historic $77.5 million buyout.
Fisher has not landed another head coaching job since then, but he has been working as an analyst for the ACC Network since 2025. In a recent interview with The Athletic, he made it clear he still wants back in.
“The relationship with players. The competition.
I miss the competition. I miss recruiting.
If I can recruit without money, I can recruit with money. I promise you that,” Fisher told The Athletic.
“But I miss the competition, the gameplanning. That was never work to me.
That was fun. It was a grind, but it was fun.”
Whether Fisher could still win in the NIL era is an open question. He’s been out of a coaching job for nearly three seasons now, and the chance to see him back on a sideline - especially in a Power Four role - would be a fascinating one if that opportunity ever comes.
In Other News...
Kyle Field Just Became A Question Aggies Never Wanted Asked
Kyle Field has spent more than a century growing from a modest home field into one of college footballs most recognizable venues, and its place in Texas A&M lore has only deepened with each expansion and renovation. Named for E.J. Kyle, the stadium has long been treated as more than a building in College Station, a historic landmark that has carried the Aggies through generations of football and tradition.
That is why any conversation about its future tends to land with extra weight, especially after the massive redevelopment that reshaped the stadium ahead of the 2015 season and made it the SECs largest. Even with its modern scale and packed Saturdays, Kyle Field still sits at the center of the same question that has followed it through every era: how much change can a place absorb before it stops feeling like Kyle Field? [Read more 🡒]
Texas A&M Commit Is Suddenly Closing In On Five-Star Status
Texas A&Ms 2027 recruiting class already looks like a heavyweight, sitting No. 1 overall and packed with six five-star prospects, with offensive tackle Mark Matthews headlining the group. But the buzz around the class has only grown because edge prospect Frederick Ards III is pushing his way toward that same elite tier, giving the Aggies another potential centerpiece in a cycle that has already drawn plenty of national attention.
Ards has the kind of production that keeps evaluators coming back, and his ranking now has him sitting just outside five-star territory in the Rivals300. He also figures to keep trending upward once he gets into Texas A&Ms development pipeline under strength and conditioning coach Tommy Moffitt, which is part of why the Aggies are trying to hold firm as other blue-blood programs circle before Early Signing Day. [Read more 🡒]