Following the firing of Jimbo Fisher, new Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko was hired in December, and immediately began making sweeping changes to the coaching staff.
One of the first hires that he made was his offensive coordinator Collin Klein, who Elko was able to steal away from Kansas State - a place that Klein not only played for four years but coached at for nine of the last 10 years.
But why was Klein so willing to leave the place he had called home for almost half of his life?
To put it simply, the program and its resources, as well as the people around the program Elko is building blew him away.
"I’ve been blown away," Klein said. "The level of support and resources that we’re able to provide our student-athletes here is truly second to none. It blows me away every day... I really felt that with coach Elko. Having played against Texas A&M, being down here, having a little bit of familiarity with this place, the type of backbone and the people that are here.”
Outside of Klein, Elko has also made a flurry of other impressive hires, including that of defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, defensive assistants Sean Spencer, Ishmael Aristide and Wesley McGriff, and offensive assistants such as Trooper Taylor and Holmon Wiggins, among many others.
Not only that, but he has also brought in a slew of analysts and support staff members that rival any other program in the SEC - something that Klein saw coming to fruition from the beginning.
"Just even in my short time with coach Elko, I think you’re going to be surrounded by an elite-level staff, elite-level leadership," Klein said. "I think you’re going to have elite-level support across the board from every avenue."
So what does Klein hope to accomplish in College Station?
Simple. He wants to be the best and find and develop players who want the same so that the Aggies program can finally take the next step.
“You’re going to have a chance to be the best player in the country on the best team in the country year in and year out," Klein said. "That’s what we’re going to build from the ground up and look out.”
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