Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork rhetorically asked the $76 million dollar question at his press conference on Sunday as the Aggies formally looked ahead following Jimbo Fisher’s firing. “Can we find the next R.C. Slocum who can be here for a long time and win championships?” 

If the Aggies are serious about that goal, the Texas A&M search is a two-man race between UTSA’s Jeff Traylor and Duke’s Mike Elko. The other person who’d fit that bill is Detroit Lions head coach and Texas A&M alum Dan Campbell, but not many NFL coaches would trade lives with a college football coach given the recruiting requirements year-round. 

“We have to have consistency,” Bjork continued. “To me, that’s the key to the next hire.” 

Find a hirable coach in the country with more consistency than Traylor. He’s won two conference titles in three full seasons as a collegiate head coach. He’s 27-3 in conference play and 22-3 at home. Maybe more importantly for Aggie fans after two years of losing on the road, Traylor is 13-4 in his last 17 away from the Alamodome. UTSA was 41-55 in its eight-year history prior to Traylor’s arrival in 2020. The Roadrunners are 30-8 in their last three seasons. 

Like Slocum, Traylor is a Texan. Fisher bristled feathers when he met with a personal trainer before the Texas High School Coaches Association shortly after taking the A&M job. His recruiting never suffered, at least on paper, but Fisher probably gets more grace – and time – if he spent any time to curate relationships. Traylor is a former East Texas high school coach. He spent time as an assistant at Texas, SMU, and Arkansas. 

Elko also fits the Slocum mold, but in different ways. Like Slocum, Elko spent time at Texas A&M as a defensive coordinator. He’d feel like an in-house hire despite spending the last two seasons as the head coach of Duke, where he won nine games in 2022 and beat Clemson to start 2023. Two of Elko’s four defenses at A&M finished second in the nation against the run. The 2020 Wrecking Crew was ninth in total defense and the 2021 unit was in the top 20. 

The Aggies roster is one of the top-five most talented in the nation. Elko could, theoretically, keep that roster relatively intact because he helped build some of it. His staff would likely consist of a few familiar faces, and while it wouldn’t hold the entire roster and 2024 recruiting class together, Elko is probably the safest bet to ensure Texas A&M competes in 2024. Competing in 2024 carries extra significance considering the date with the Texas Longhorns.  

The timing of Fisher’s termination is important. Oregon’s Dan Lanning and Washington’s Kalen DeBoer are also reported targets, but why fire a coach this early if the next one isn’t available until December, anyway? Both of those coaches are in College Football Playoff races. 

Other reported possibilities include Kansas’ Lance Leipold and Kansas State’s Chris Klieman – both excellent coaches and proven program builders. Neither have any real Texas A&M or Lone Star State ties like Elko or Traylor or Slocum. Names such as Urban Meyer and Deion Sanders are more fantasy booking – which we love and endorse – more than real options. 

“We are not in the championship conversation and something was not quite right about our direction and the plan,” Bjork said on Sunday. “We should be relevant on the national scene.” 

Bjork spent much of the Saturday press conference seemingly warning his fan base and donors about needing to make a splash hire. The Aggies did that with Fisher, and it clearly didn’t work. No formula is a guarantee. They hired from the G5 ranks with Kevin Sumlin with similar results. They chose a former assistant with a background as a coordinator in Mike Sherman and he lasted four seasons. 

Texas A&M has both the resources and recruiting advantages to compete with any other program in the nation. Fisher proved that the Aggies can successfully build one of the only rosters in the country with the blue-chip ratio required to win national titles. The only other programs with more talent on the 2023 roster than Texas A&M according to 247Sports is Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State. All it needs is a leader. One that understands this specific job, culture, and expectations. 

“Here's the profile of what we will work from,” Bjork said. “A coach that has a program identity, great interpersonal skills, track record of player development, commitment to academics, a recruiting machine, supreme organizational skills, culture of discipline, passion for the game, proven winner, strong leadership skills, involved in the community, of course, knowledge of X's and O's, and someone that understands and also can capitalize in today's modern day college athletics.” 

Elko and Traylor both check off each of those boxes and the Aggies could likely hire away either by the end of the football season if they’re presented contracts. Texas A&M controls the 2023-24 coaching search because it made the bold move to pay an enormous buy out to become the biggest suitors in the market. Two candidates make nearly perfect sense. Finding the next Slocum feels easy in this scenario. Pulling the trigger on one of them is all that’s left.