Report: Mike Elko hires former Duke administrator Derek Miller as Texas A&M's general manager

Mike Elko is bringing over some Duke blood as he looks to rebuild the Texas A&M Aggies.

On Tuesday, it was reported by Steve Wiltfong that Elko brought former Blue Devils administrator Derek Miller to College Station as Texas A&M’s new general manager.

“Derek Miller is now the General Manager at Texas A&M, coming over with head coach Mike Elko from Duke,” Wiltfong posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Past experience includes LSU, East Carolina and Bowling Green.”

As Wiltfong mentioned, Miller also has experience at LSU, East Carolina and Bowling Green, and that wealth of time spent at some major programs will help Elko and company in their quest to bring the Aggies to the forefront of the SEC.

Mike Elko has a plan, and he’s motivated to bring Texas A&M back to the level they’re expected to compete at. Time will tell how long it takes him, but the confidence in the coach is high at the moment.

Rece Davis: Texas A&M hit a home run with Mike Elko hire

Mike Elko is barely getting his feet wet as head coach at Texas A&M — but high expectations are already surrounding his hire. 

According to ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis, those expectations are well warranted, as he expects big things from the former Aggie defensive coordinator during his tenure in College Station. 

“From Ross Bjork’s standpoint, and from A&M’s standpoint, they hit a home-run here,” Davis said on the College GameDay podcast. “Honesty compels me to say, I thought the same thing when they hired Jimbo [Fisher], but even though he worked for Jimbo, he’s a completely different guy as we’ve outlined here. 

“I think it is an absolute home run hire, and probably one that is a more creative approach to hire than what appeared to be his initial attempt to hire him.”

Elko was the eventual hire over the likes of Kentucky‘s Mark Stoops, Kansas‘ Lance Leipold, and UTSA’s Jeff Traylor, among others, were all heavily considered alongside Elko. Stoops was even reportedly set to accept to Aggies’ job before a seemingly last-minute collapse in negotiations. That set Elko up perfectly to swoop in for a triumphant return to College Station.

“I think Mark Stoops is a terrific football coach,” Davis continued. “But because of the challenges that I’ve outlined earlier, maybe an Elko, who might look at things in different ways because of the varied experiences and also because he has actually been at A&M — which is a not for long — but he was there and that is a different place … He would have he would have made A&M much, much better. 

“But this higher is both both really smart and a home run and from a background fit, perspective and a little outside the box. It’s just enough outside the box to have a chance to be really successful.”

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this article.