This came up on my Facebook feed. Didn't see it posted here.

As was previously reported, the contract runs through the 2031 season. However, new details, such as Elko's starting base salary of $10.75 million that escalates to $12.25 million in the sixth and final year, were released in the contract Monday.

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Should the school decide to fire Elko without cause prior to the end of the contract, he would be owed 100% of the remaining base salary through the third-to-last year of the contract, plus 85% of the base salary of the final two years of the contract.

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In the 2026 season and beyond, Elko can earn incentives as high as $1.25 million for winning a national championship down to $250,000 for winning the SEC title game and earning a spot in the College Football Playoff field

https://www.kbtx.com/2026/02/17/new-contract-texas-ams-mike-elko-modernized-current-college-athletics-landscap/?fbclid=IwdGRleAQCAWpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeCnsOa3ChgCnjZOzUAuoxl4z434qrV2p0PKkP-m7S81Aakob_fdIGYlSGmig_aem_YddlujgpA5KniVTZoN-_4Q

This deal isn't too bad though. It's a given Elko will be around a minimum of 3 years regardless so the buyout won't be of the Fisher variety. I'm actually surprised the final two years aren't at full contract amount.

Good for him

Not my money


Hopefully he keeps improving & quits falling apart at the end of the year

Guy12 said:

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AGDAD14 said:

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Stupid is as stupid does! He shouldn't be getting paid as if he is the next Curt Cignetti.

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We wouldn't know if he's on the level of Curt Cignetti until the moment he won a national championship. Cignetti himself signed a deal that seemed pretty crazy at the time, it wasn't until after he won against Ohio State that the doubt in him really started to fade. If Indiana would've waited until they knew Cignetti was what he was to pay him, he would've been hired away by Penn State.

We have to pay Elko based on the level of success he's had for two years, not the natty-or-bust mentality people seem to have here. Otherwise he'd get hired away and everyone would be yelling about how dumb the BMAs were for letting him get away.

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Yeah…but for whatever reasons our virtue signaling tough guy phans keep virtue signaling that they have no money but are way smarter than those who do…and they might be!!!

JMJLAW said:

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One day- common sense will prevail and there will be no such thing as a guaranteed contract regardless of what a sht job a coach does.

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It ain't changing. We can all complain. The schools that choose wisely....get a leg up.

Too much money involved to not give the top tier guys insane guarantees. Just the way of NIL world....

Guy12 said:

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AGDAD14 said:

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Stupid is as stupid does! He shouldn't be getting paid as if he is the next Curt Cignetti.

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We wouldn't know if he's on the level of Curt Cignetti until the moment he won a national championship. Cignetti himself signed a deal that seemed pretty crazy at the time, it wasn't until after he won against Ohio State that the doubt in him really started to fade. If Indiana would've waited until they knew Cignetti was what he was to pay him, he would've been hired away by Penn State.

We have to pay Elko based on the level of success he's had for two years, not the natty-or-bust mentality people seem to have here. Otherwise he'd get hired away and everyone would be yelling about how dumb the BMAs were for letting him get away.

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This is a point that many have repeated on here adnauseum but there's still a large group that thinks they know better and a coach will stay here when there are better deals on the table just because it's A&M, and hey let the coach walk then, we'll find somebody else

But we've been looking for "the guy" for decades and still hadn't found him.

Elko looks like he "could" be the guy so you need to hold onto him

Could you imagine had we lost him to Penn st, our roster got gutted and we had to find another coach during that crazy carousel this offseason?

Oof.

History continues to repeat itself in Aggieland. Stupid is as stupid does.

So the increase from year to year is the same if he gets to and wins the sec championship? Ummmmm ok, that does not make sense.

I think Mike Elko's new contract seems reasonable because he has led us to our most successful season in the modern era. Paying Elko for that level of success is critical to providing coaching stability for the long haul because another school would have hired him away.

Iraq2xVeteran said:

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I think Mike Elko's new contract seems reasonable because he has led us to our most successful season in the modern era. Paying Elko for that level of success is critical to providing coaching stability for the long haul because another school would have hired him away.

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Second highest final ranking after 2020. And he doesn't seem to have a plan any better than Jimbo for recruiting QBs.

I think the two most fascinating things about this extension are:

1) it's basically the same blueprint as Jimbo. Win big for one season and get handsomely rewarded. The contract details regarding guaranteed money are different of course (Jimbo signed the worst contract in the history of college football), but the premise is the same. hopefully it works out better for us this time.

2) this got very little attention in the CFB world and Texags. Odd





I would personally have liked him to have one more great season before rewarding him. He was still under contract for four more years, so I don't understand the rush. If he was going to be poached by someone else, we should have just let him go. There are plenty of coaches that can take our resources and get to the CFB playoff.

Some red flags to me are: losing to Texas each year you played them, and fading at the end of two straight seasons including a noticeable drop in QB play. If he does not have a plan to fix these things, this is going to be an ugly next few years.

Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

First two years at A&M

RC S 17-7-1
dennis 11-13
Sleepy 10-15
Sumlin 20-6
Jimbo 17-9
Elko 19-7

Elko will need 9 wins next year to tie sumlin for best 3 year start

mjhhawk said:

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Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

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mjhhawk said:

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Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

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Based on???

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I don't understand the rush. If he was going to be poached by someone else, we should have just let him go. There are plenty of coaches that can take our resources and get to the CFB playoff.

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Then he would be the head coach at Penn St right now had we not and we would have had to hire a coach in one of the most competitive coaching markets in years. That's just the facts of the situation. Those "plenty of coaches" out there also come with large price tags and are wanted by other programs willing to pay. It's not that we decided to rewarded him early, it's that we decided to pay him his market rate vs. enter the market (not necessarily cheaper) and reset the program.

Gnome Sayin said:

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Elko will need 9 wins next year to tie sumlin for best 3 year start

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2 of which he had a generational talent at QB who he didn't recruit.

greg.w.h said:

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mjhhawk said:

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Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

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Based on???

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We only lost to the National Champion Runner Ups and the champions of August.

gunan01 said:

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I think the two most fascinating things about this extension are:

1) it's basically the same blueprint as Jimbo. Win big for one season and get handsomely rewarded. The contract details regarding guaranteed money are different of course (Jimbo signed the worst contract in the history of college football), but the premise is the same. hopefully it works out better for us this time.

2) this got very little attention in the CFB world and Texags. Odd





I would personally have liked him to have one more great season before rewarding him. He was still under contract for four more years, so I don't understand the rush. If he was going to be poached by someone else, we should have just let him go. There are plenty of coaches that can take our resources and get to the CFB playoff.

Some red flags to me are: losing to Texas each year you played them, and fading at the end of two straight seasons including a noticeable drop in QB play. If he does not have a plan to fix these things, this is going to be an ugly next few years.

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We had to fend off Penn State and did so. Some of you simply don't get leverage.

.

greg.w.h said:

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mjhhawk said:

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Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

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Based on???

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We finished ranked 8th. Of the 7 teams above us, Oregon, Ohio St and Georgia all were considered National Contenders with better rosters and also finished with two losses. We were not expected to be more than 8-4.

I'll give you Indiana and Miami as better coaching seasons because Indiana won the title and Miami beat us. Ole Miss is dicey because of the Lane situation. Tceh if you want, but I believe Elko does the same with that shcedule if not more.

So right now I'm at two definites.

Who finished right behind us:

Bama - no chance they are happy with DeBoer right now.

Notre Dame - we beat them there.

BYU - Same as tceh but lost to them twice.

tu - Maybe better coach on one day, but Elko didn't lose to Florida.

okie - no

....going down the list and I'll give you Vandy too.

So based on every team's season last year I would rank his performance as 4th or 5th pending your Lane thoughts. I know the sky is falling and everyone here thinks we under performed last year and we should be 15-0 because Cignetti did it. But if you really look at what every team did the entire season then it is hard pressed to find any coach (besides Cignetti) who did a much better job.

Teslag said:

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gunan01 said:

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I think the two most fascinating things about this extension are:

1) it's basically the same blueprint as Jimbo. Win big for one season and get handsomely rewarded. The contract details regarding guaranteed money are different of course (Jimbo signed the worst contract in the history of college football), but the premise is the same. hopefully it works out better for us this time.

2) this got very little attention in the CFB world and Texags. Odd





I would personally have liked him to have one more great season before rewarding him. He was still under contract for four more years, so I don't understand the rush. If he was going to be poached by someone else, we should have just let him go. There are plenty of coaches that can take our resources and get to the CFB playoff.

Some red flags to me are: losing to Texas each year you played them, and fading at the end of two straight seasons including a noticeable drop in QB play. If he does not have a plan to fix these things, this is going to be an ugly next few years.

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We had to fend off Penn State and did so. Some of you simply don't get leverage.

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this is the same kind of shortsighted thinking that led us to locking up Jimbo. At the time, LSU was desperately trying to poach him. How did that work out for us?

Instead of allowing coaches to use "leverage" to twist our arm into offering huge extensions, we need to find a better way to evaluate guys for the long-term. That's why in my post I would have liked to see one more great season before locking Elko up.

So your solution was to let Elko walk and enter a coaching market already inflated by numerous openings?

Sounds smart.

I don't recall Elko being on many lists for the Penn State job. He was surely never the leader or second or third choice.

I think A&M should have had confidence in the situation they offer and rolled the dice. I don't think Elko would have gone anywhere. He's got it great in College Station and has a chance ot make a name for himself while pulling great money.

He's only been a head coach a few years. So far, so good. Nobody knows if he is an excellent coach yet.

Bill Superman said:

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greg.w.h said:

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mjhhawk said:

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Elko was one of the five best coaches in college football last year. He is now paid properly with incentives for him to continue his success. I am on board.

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Based on???

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We only lost to the National Champion Runner Ups and the champions of August.

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The Miami and Texas games were disasters on offense despite the goal post shifts. The Carolina game nearly was a disaster. Samford was like drywall on an outhouse…

Teslag said:

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So your solution was to let Elko walk and enter a coaching market already inflated by numerous openings?

Sounds smart.

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This kind of thinking has led to both Sumlin and Jimbo staying WAY longer than they're usefulness and creating a near $100 million buyout that, at best, is a financial issue for us now and will be for several more years. For one, there is absolutely no evidence he would have taken PSU. Everyone, including Knute Rockne, turned them down. Them having to settle for Campbell is going to make everyone wonder in 2-3 years why the hell they fired Franklin -- as Franklin is WAY better. For another, if he leaves, he leaves. A&M isn't going to have an issue finding a coach.

We're not exactly hurting in men's hoops after having to go out and kill something and drag it into the cave. The same is pretty much true in volleyball. In baseball, we tried to recreate the magic and, so far, it hasn't worked out. Women's basketball has somewhat similar overtones. While there's no script for automatic success in hiring, I'll gladly take our chances in going out and finding someone who's a good fit for this job. While not perfect (see Childress in Baseball), it seems to have more success than other methods. Besides, as much as I was not a fan of Childress, he had better overall results in his sport than Sumlin or Jimbo did, relatively, in theirs. Childress was just not an upgrade over Mark Johnson and the administration should have seen that by the time we went to the SEC.

Would you feel better if, next year, Elko announced he's leaving for _____ while telling the AD, "there's absolutely nothing you can do to get me to stay; not even a 5x pay increase?" Sure, we wouldn't be on the hook for HIS contract, but we'd be back in that same market you're talking to, probably having to pay more to get someone to come here.

91AggieLawyer said:

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Teslag said:

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So your solution was to let Elko walk and enter a coaching market already inflated by numerous openings?

Sounds smart.

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This kind of thinking has led to both Sumlin and Jimbo staying WAY longer than they're usefulness and creating a near $100 million buyout that, at best, is a financial issue for us now and will be for several more years. For one, there is absolutely no evidence he would have taken PSU. Everyone, including Knute Rockne, turned them down. Them having to settle for Campbell is going to make everyone wonder in 2-3 years why the hell they fired Franklin -- as Franklin is WAY better. For another, if he leaves, he leaves. A&M isn't going to have an issue finding a coach.

We're not exactly hurting in men's hoops after having to go out and kill something and drag it into the cave. The same is pretty much true in volleyball. In baseball, we tried to recreate the magic and, so far, it hasn't worked out. Women's basketball has somewhat similar overtones. While there's no script for automatic success in hiring, I'll gladly take our chances in going out and finding someone who's a good fit for this job. While not perfect (see Childress in Baseball), it seems to have more success than other methods. Besides, as much as I was not a fan of Childress, he had better overall results in his sport than Sumlin or Jimbo did, relatively, in theirs. Childress was just not an upgrade over Mark Johnson and the administration should have seen that by the time we went to the SEC.

Would you feel better if, next year, Elko announced he's leaving for _____ while telling the AD, "there's absolutely nothing you can do to get me to stay; not even a 5x pay increase?" Sure, we wouldn't be on the hook for HIS contract, but we'd be back in that same market you're talking to, probably having to pay more to get someone to come here.

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Well said. Other than our long-standing tradition of failing to get to the top, I've never understood how one of the two or three richest schools in the country can't be a CFB dream job. And we don't actually have a history of coaches leaving us for greener pastures. We just have a history of fear that they will.

91AggieLawyer said:

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Teslag said:

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So your solution was to let Elko walk and enter a coaching market already inflated by numerous openings?

Sounds smart.

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This kind of thinking has led to both Sumlin and Jimbo staying WAY longer than they're usefulness and creating a near $100 million buyout that, at best, is a financial issue for us now and will be for several more years. For one, there is absolutely no evidence he would have taken PSU. Everyone, including Knute Rockne, turned them down. Them having to settle for Campbell is going to make everyone wonder in 2-3 years why the hell they fired Franklin -- as Franklin is WAY better. For another, if he leaves, he leaves. A&M isn't going to have an issue finding a coach.

We're not exactly hurting in men's hoops after having to go out and kill something and drag it into the cave. The same is pretty much true in volleyball. In baseball, we tried to recreate the magic and, so far, it hasn't worked out. Women's basketball has somewhat similar overtones. While there's no script for automatic success in hiring, I'll gladly take our chances in going out and finding someone who's a good fit for this job. While not perfect (see Childress in Baseball), it seems to have more success than other methods. Besides, as much as I was not a fan of Childress, he had better overall results in his sport than Sumlin or Jimbo did, relatively, in theirs. Childress was just not an upgrade over Mark Johnson and the administration should have seen that by the time we went to the SEC.

Would you feel better if, next year, Elko announced he's leaving for _____ while telling the AD, "there's absolutely nothing you can do to get me to stay; not even a 5x pay increase?" Sure, we wouldn't be on the hook for HIS contract, but we'd be back in that same market you're talking to, probably having to pay more to get someone to come here.

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So who would you have hired once you let Elko walk? In that coaching market? For the peanuts you wanted to pay? Florida hiring Sumrall was just $3 million less per year than Elko. Then you have to factor in replacing an entire staff, new system, re-establishing recruiting relationships, transfers, etc.

Quote:

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A&M isn't going to have an issue finding a coach

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A&M has always had issues "finding a coach" in football. It's why we have to keep firing and hiring them. Same with almost every other school. The demand for successful coaches grossly outpaces the supply of them. You simply can't go out and just get one. And if you can, he's going to be pretty damn expensive.

And remember too that Elko actually gave us a discount compared to what Penn State was offering.