Rece Davis suggests Penn State could take a 'big swing' by trying to hire Mike Elko

There are a few massive jobs open now in college football. Arguably the biggest is that of Penn State, where many expect the Nittany Lions to go big-game hunting for their next head coach.

Rece Davis of ESPN expects Penn State to take a swing. On the College GameDay Podcast, he even suggested that it would make sense for the Nittany Lions to go after Mike Elko, the Texas A&M head coach.

“The big swing,” Rece Davis said. “These people are taking big swings. Everybody knows what Florida‘s big swing is going to be, it appears. I would say, to your point, Elko and the Brink’s truck brought up, the big swing for Penn State would be to try to lure Mike Elko back home.”

Elko is a New Jersey native who played for Penn. Hw later began his coaching career at Stony Brook in New York and made numerous stops at small schools within the region. Given those ties, the chance to leave Texas A&M for Penn State and get closer to home could be appealing.

This would be a massive swing, too. Elko found success as the head coach at Duke before jumping to Texas A&M, where he’s in his second season and has the Aggies on the verge of their first College Football Playoff appearance. Of course, Texas A&M, being a well-positioned SEC school, losing its coach to a poaching would be a massive shock.

“Look, I always have a little — because of the number of coaches I’ve worked with in my career — I have some sensitivity to bringing things like this up when a guy has a great job already or has any job, bringing it up. I understand why they wouldn’t answer it,” Davis said. “But, they keep leaving for other jobs, and I don’t say that critically. I mean, everyone’s out there to advance their career. You do what’s best for you. We’ve seen most certainly they will fire you if they become dissatisfied with your performance. So, I hold no ill will toward anyone who leaves one job for another one. That’s life. That’s business.”

Whether or not Penn State makes this type of splash hire, of course, remains to be seen. Certainly, if Penn State does target Elko, Texas A&M will look to its resources, which are considerable, to try and retain him.

“I do have some sensitivity to bringing it up,” Davis said. “But if you’re sticking your head in the sand and pretending things don’t happen, if you’re looking at it from the mindset of those who are looking for a new coach, I would think that a logical big swing without some of the downside of the other candidates at Penn State, a big swing would be, ‘Let’s go see if Elko says no.’ To your point, A&M is most likely going to take that preventative measure to make it very easy or far easier to say no to anyone who might take a big swing at him, I would think.”

For now, Elko is focused on this Texas A&M season and what the Aggies can accomplish now. That means keeping the attention on LSU this Saturday.