Bye!

LFG!!!

The timing certainly sucks!

Can we ever have continuity??! Damn

happy for him

seems like a win win

I'm guessing we end up hiring Adam Fuller as DC

Either we are about to have coaches being poached or this helps keep a few folks. So great all this happens pre CFP game. Note that Curt C. doesn't lose coaches and think part of the his success thru the years.

Maybe this keeps Peterson at A&M (maybe promoted more) as keep reading that Klein wants him to come to KSU to maybe be DC (along with a couple more GA or quality coaches who are probably going - Buford and Ohara -- yes lower on the totem pole, but do most of the real nitty gritty work).

Good for all

I wouldn't mind having Kentucky on our schedule in the near future. I won't be worried about their defense.

If a coach leaves us to coach at same position for Kentucky he was "asked" to leave. Period

Hindsight handwriting prob on the wall after last year's bowl game debacle (and Elko's statements in presser), then hiring Hemphill for this season (probably Bateman knew he had 1 year left as his contract was ending).

Now, while defense was better in FY25 and word is that Hemphill was highly involved, who do we blame for the tu debacle...Bateman or Hemphill and Elko?

Hard to type Bateman without thinking of the dumb commercials, and that Bateman needs to go do his podcast.

AustinCountyAg said:

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Timberwolf said:

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The timing certainly sucks!

Can we ever have continuity??! Damn

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come with the territory of being good. Somehow Saban managed to survive losing coaches every year.

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I'm going to assume Elko took on a lot of the defense and Bateman was just the middle guy, hence the reason he is leaving. Just a guess though.

Addition by subtraction?

I'm ready to go back to being Linebacker U!!

Elko and Bateman are friends, I believe, so I'd assume this was a known thing by all parties.

So is he coaching through the playoffs also?

ABattJudd said:

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I doubt KY would be able to out-bid us if we had really wanted to keep him, and I wouldn't think it would be viewed as necessarily even a lateral move. I wonder if he and Elko had some discussions that he would be well-served to find another place to be next year.

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Definitely a possibility.

I will say he doesn't run the defense here on game day. He's DC at A&M basically in name only... So arguably it's an upgrade because he is back to calling defenses at KY.

lagoag said:

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I wouldn't mind having Kentucky on our schedule in the near future. I won't be worried about their defense.

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We will play Kentucky at home in 2026 and on the road in 2028.

https://12thman.com/news/2025/9/23/sec-announces-football-opponents-for-2026-29

Seems like this really proves that he was DC in name-only, else nobody would leave A&M for UK

Timberwolf said:

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The timing certainly sucks!

Can we ever have continuity??! Damn

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Nobody has continuity outside of a small number of positions. Look at Saban - he had a rotating staff of coaches the entire time he was at Alabama, and probably did at lsu as well (I didn't pay much attention back then so I don't know).

Position coaches and coordinators come and go all of the time.

lagoag said:

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I wouldn't mind having Kentucky on our schedule in the near future. I won't be worried about their defense.

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Maybe my sarcasm meter is broken today, but have you looked at our 2026 schedule?

Mike Elko is promoting associate head coach for the defense Lyle Hemphill to defensive coordinator to replace Jay Bateman.

https://www.si.com/college/tamu/football/texas-am-has-already-found-its-new-defensive-coordinator

I believe that Coach Bateman has been on the sidelines this year with Coach Hemphill in the Pressbox.

I won't miss old flat top.

stoops as DC

jt16 said:

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Timberwolf said:

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The timing certainly sucks!

Can we ever have continuity??! Damn

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This feels like he was asked to leave

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Yep.
The writing was on the wall when Elko took over play calling duties.