Mike Elko
Mike Elko went 39–19 as a head coach, 2022–2026, at Duke and Texas A&M. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 3–3); by them his record is 38–19. Share
- Record
- 39–19 career
- Seasons
- 5
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Jul 28, 1977
- Alma mater
- Pennsylvania 1999
- Best season
- 2025 11–2, No. 8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Duke | 9–4 | T–2nd (Coastal) | Military Bowl W | ||
| 2023 | Duke | 7–5 | T–6th | Birmingham (not coached) | ||
| 2024 | Texas A&M | 8–5 | T–4th | Las Vegas Bowl L | ||
| 2025 | Texas A&M | 11–2 | T–1st | CFP First Round L | 8 | |
| 2026 | Texas A&M | 4–3 (Wikipedia: 3–3) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
K.C. ConcepcionConsensus All‑American, 2025- Cashius HowellConsensus All‑American, 2025
- Shemar StewartNo. 17 pick, 2025
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 16 | 6–10 | 38% |
| Against top-10 teams | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| Against rivals | 21 | 12–9 | 57% |
| Conference games | 36 | 22–14 | 61% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 20 | 10–10 | 50% |
| At home | 33 | 27–6 | 82% |
| On the road | 22 | 10–12 | 45% |
| At neutral sites | 3 | 2–1 | 67% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 34 | 28–6 | 82% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 24 | 11–13 | 46% |
His own 58 games on file, 2022–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Drinkwitz 2024–2026 | 2–1 | Missouri | 3 | |
| Marcus Freeman 2023–2025 | 1–2 | Notre Dame | 3 |
Mike Elko’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansasseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| LSUseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Missouriseries | 3 | 2–1 |
| Notre Dameseries | 3 | 1–2 |
| Floridaseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Northwesternseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Wake Forestseries | 2 | 2–0 |
| Mississippi Stateseries | 2 | 2–0 |
How he was hired
- Hired by Duke for the 2022 season from Texas A&M, where he was defensive coordinator.
- Hired by Texas A&M for the 2024 season from Duke, where he was head coach. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Stony Brook | Graduate assistant | |
| 2000 | Penn | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2001 | Merchant Marine | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2002–03 | Fordham | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2004–05 | Richmond | Special teams and linebackers coach | |
| 2006 | Hofstra | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2007 | Hofstra | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2008 | Hofstra | Assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2009–13 | Bowling Green | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| 2014–16 | Wake Forest | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2017 | Notre Dame | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2018–21 | Texas A&M | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2022–23 | Duke | Head coach | |
| 2024–present | Texas A&M | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Dave ClawsonFordham, Richmond, Bowling Green, Wake Forest
- Dave CohenHofstra
- Jaime ElizondoHofstra
- Brian KellyNotre Dame
- Jimbo FisherTexas A&M
Assistants who became head coaches
- Rich SkroskyRamapo, Elon
- Trooper TaylorDuke
- Collin KleinKansas State
- Jay BatemanSiena
- John PerryMerrimack
- Elijah RobinsonTexas A&M
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Clawson | Fordham | 2002–03 | Co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Richmond | 2004–05 | Special teams and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Cohen | Hofstra | 2006–08 | 2006: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach; 2007: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2008: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Jaime Elizondo | Hofstra | 2006–08 | 2006: defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach; 2007: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; 2008: assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Bowling Green | 2009–13 | Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Dave Clawson | Wake Forest | 2014–16 | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Brian Kelly | Notre Dame | 2017 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Jimbo Fisher | Texas A&M | 2018–21 | Defensive coordinator and safeties coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (6)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Skrosky | Duke, 2022–23: senior analyst | Ramapo, Elon | |
| Trooper Taylor | Duke, 2022–23: assistant head coach and running backs coach; Texas A&M, 2024–26: assistant head coach and running backs coach | Duke | |
| Collin Klein | Texas A&M, 2024–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Kansas State | |
| Jay Bateman | Texas A&M, 2024–25: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | Siena | |
| John Perry | Texas A&M, 2025: assistant wide receivers coach; 2026: wide receivers coach | Merrimack | |
| Elijah Robinson | Texas A&M, 2026: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | Texas A&M |
Other assistants under him (9)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin Johns | Duke, 2022–23: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Lyle Hemphill | Duke, 2022: safeties coach; 2023: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach; Texas A&M, 2025: senior assistant; 2026: defensive coordinator | |
| Robb Smith | Duke, 2022: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Tyler Santucci | Duke, 2023: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Holmon Wiggins | Texas A&M, 2024–25: co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach; 2026: offensive coordinator | |
| Joey Lynch | Texas A&M, 2024–25: SOA; 2026: quarterbacks coach | |
| Jordan Peterson | Texas A&M, 2024–25: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Sean Spencer | Texas A&M, 2024–25: defensive line coach | |
| Travis Williams | Texas A&M, 2026: linebackers coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Elko’s teams went for it on 23% of fourth downs and on 41% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 47% of plays and took 27.5 seconds a play, 2022–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 12 g | Duke | 24 of 86 28% | 50% | 49% | 28.3 | +0.17 | |
| 2023 13 g | Duke | 19 of 92 21% | 39% | 47% | 27.6 | +0.03 | |
| 2024 13 g | Texas A&M | 18 of 88 20% | 38% | 43% | 27.2 | +0.09 | |
| 2025 13 g | Texas A&M | 17 of 92 18% | 36% | 47% | 27.0 | +0.14 | |
| 2026 7 g | Texas A&M | 17 of 53 32% | 43% | 48% | 27.2 | 0.00 | |
| All 58 g | 95 of 411 23% | 41% | 47% | 27.5 | +0.10 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.