Texas A&M Coaching Job One of Nation's Elite

What goes into making a college football head coaching job attractive to potential candidates? Well, there's a a lot of factors to consider, and some of them are susceptible to change each year in the volatile landscape of the sport.

Some coaches may prefer schools with rich tradition that are based in recruiting hotbeds. Others may prefer schools with deep pockets to keep pace in the age of NIL. It truly depends on the individual.

When looking at what most coaches look for, however, it's hard not to see the Texas A&M Aggies as one of the premier coaching destinations in the sport.

Texas A&M Coaching Job Among Best in College Football

Brad Crawford of CBS Sports recently attempted to make an "objective" ranking of the best coaching jobs in all of college football. To do so, he looked at five factors: recruiting (high school and transfer portal), resources (NIL, donors and TV revenue), talent pool, administrative edge and executable expectations.

He found Texas A&M to be in the "elite" tier with a score of four out of five, putting it alongside other powerhouses such as Michigan, Oregon, USC, Florida, Oklahoma and Penn State.

"Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher a record-setting buyout to walk away because an eight-win average wasn't good enough -- even with his BCS title pedigree from Florida State," Crawford wrote. "Expectations are sky-high for a program that has posted just four winning SEC records since joining the league in 2012. Facilities are elite, the Aggies sit in a talent-rich recruiting region, and resources are limitless. It's time to win -- big."

It's clear that the money at Texas A&M's disposal is a major selling point, but it's not the only one. For instance, being the closest SEC school to Houston, a major recruiting hotbed in a state already loaded with talent, is a massive perk as well.

As it stands now, though, the Aggies appear to be a sleeping giant. They have all these resources at their disposal, yet they've been trapped in good-but-not-great purgatory for years now. Of course, head coach Mike Elko is determined to change that.

"I think this is really important. Our goal is to build the best program we are capable of being... When we do that, it won't matter who we play or who is in the SEC. No one will be able to stop us," Elko said last month.