Aggies OC Collin Klein is expected to return to Kansas State as head coach. Mike Elko says he'll support the move and use it as proof that A&M hires big-time talent.
Texas A&M woke up on National Signing Day, celebrating 28 new signatures, and then the coaching carousel kicked down the door.
While the Aggies were busy locking in another loaded recruiting haul, reports surfaced that Kansas State legend and current A&M offensive coordinator Collin Klein is expected to return to his alma mater as the Wildcats' next head coach following the season.
The move would coincide with the reported retirement of K-State head coach Chris Klieman, and it would send Klein right back to where his playing career made him a college football name.
Klein is not just "another former player" in Manhattan.
He was the guy. As the Wildcats' starting quarterback in 2011 and 2012, he led K-State to a 21-5 record and finished third in the Heisman voting in 2012.
His name is baked into the Bill Snyder-era revival and this is as close to a homecoming coronation as it gets.
Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko faced the questions head-on during his National Signing Day press conference just hours after the news broke.
He made it clear nothing is official yet, but he didn't sound blindsided or bitter.
"I think that it's probably not solidified in any way, shape, or form yet," Elko said, noting that reports usually arrive before any formal paperwork. His bigger point? When you hire high-level people, this is the cost of doing business.
Elko compared it directly to losing star players to the NFL.
You don't panic when your guys get drafted; you point to it as proof you’re doing things right. The same logic applies to coaches.
"You'll lose position coaches to become coordinators, you'll lose coordinators to become head coaches," Elko said. What he wants to avoid is losing quality assistants sideways ... leaving A&M to take the same job somewhere else.
That's not what this is. If Klein bolts, it's for the big chair.
Klein hasn’t exactly hidden his ambition. Earlier this season, he openly admitted that becoming a head coach has "absolutely" been a long-term goal, with the caveat that timing and fit matter.
For him, Kansas State checks every box. Outside of a one-year stop at Northern Iowa in 2016 and this season at A&M, every step of his coaching life has been in Manhattan ... grad assistant, quarterbacks coach, then offensive coordinator.
If the reports hold, A&M will lose a sharp offensive mind after just one season.
But Elko is already spinning it forward. It's a sign that College Station is attracting the kind of coaches other programs want to hand the keys to.
And for a recruiting class that just watched their OC become a Power Four head coach, that's a pretty loud message about the size of the stage they're stepping onto.