Sources: Texas A&M, Duke’s Elko agree on offer

• Pete Thamel, ESPNNov 26, 2023, 04:59 PM ET

Texas A&M and Duke’s Mike Elko have reached a contract to make him the school’s next head coach, sources told ESPN on Sunday.Elko resolved the possible move with his Duke team at a group meeting Sunday. Sources told ESPN in the afternoon that an official statement was expected in next 24 hours.Elko is a previous Texas A&M protective organizer who left there two years ago to take the Duke head-coaching job. Elko was the organizer for some of Texas A&M’s best current seasons, consisting of the 9-1 project in 2020 that culminated with an Orange Bowl victory.Since Elko’s departure after the 2021 season, A&M’s performance has dipped on the field. The Aggies went 12-12 the previous two years, which is why the school paid a record$ 76 million buyout to fire coach Jimbo Fisher. The buyout is not subject to balance out or mitigation and is by far the biggest in the history of the sport.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Elko right away revealed his chops as a head coach, authoring among the sport’s greatest turn-arounds upon landing the Duke task in the 2022 season

. Duke went 9-4 in

Elko’s very first season after he acquired a group that had gone 3-9 the year before.This year, Elko established himself as a prospect for a higher-profile job when Duke opened the season with a 28-7 win at No. 9 Clemson. Heaven Devils began the season 4-0 before losing to Notre Dame at home, with

star quarterback Riley Leonard getting hurt in the fourth quarter.From there, Duke’s trajectory changed. The team ended up 7-5 and will go to a championship game for the 2nd consecutive season.Elko takes control of an A&M program that has actually had a hard time to optimize its monetary and talent resources. The school hasn’t won a league title given that 1998 and hasn’t played in

the conference title game given that going into the SEC in 2012. Elko is a protective coach by trade, and he has actually worked at places throughout the years– Bowling Green, Wake Forest, Fordham– where he has actually learned to maximize the resources offered. He plainly did that at Duke, after the program had dipped under predecessor David Cutcliffe, as Elko induced wholesale modifications

without a considerable personnel overhaul.ESPN Senior citizen Writer Chris Low added to this report.