The Texas A&M Aggies have brought Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Elko aboard, and after doing so, athletic director Ross Bjork reached out to former Aggies star quarterback Johnny Manziel for some advice.
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He's back.
Mike Elko addresses the public for the first time as Head Coach of Texas A&M 👍 pic.twitter.com/wMmdRSAfvW
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) November 28, 2023
According to Bjork, Manziel told him that the Aggies needed to become an "intimidating bully."
Johnny Manziel is the one who said “we need to be an intimidating bully,” per Ross Bjork. He said Johnny used another adjective.
— David Nuño (@DavidNuno) November 27, 2023
"What was really cool is probably the first, I'd say the first week of the process, you're hearing from people who are interested in us too," Bjork said. "We obviously had a list and we want to be proactive in that list. But then it's like, oh, you heard about this person, you heard about this person."
In Bjork's eyes, that's enough proof to know the program can finally push for a national championship.
"So, it actually helped validate what we all say, right? We think we can win championships here. We think we can compete at the highest level. Other people saw that. Other people in the football world saw that. So, in a lot of ways, then you check that, okay, how does your final group sort of stack up to what people are saying in the landscape? What we think the DNA should be of the program. And again, the goal is to get it right. And everything that Coach Elko has matches what we think are the ingredients."
After that, that's when Bjork heard advice from Manziel and others, but Manziel's words spoke to him more so, it seems.
"So, to me, that was a great process to learn. The incoming, the outgoing, all the conversations, the former players were awesome. Like talking to those guys. I mean, talking to Dat Nguyen or Ray Mickens or Johnny Football, he's the one that said Johnny Manziel's, the one that said we need to be an intimidating bully," Bjork said.
"He actually had another adjective. I can't say that, but he said, that's what we got to be. And I'm like, 'Okay, that's pretty powerful coming from an offensive guy.' So, it matched all the things you're seeing unfold here in the last couple of hours with Coach Elko."
Of course, Manziel has had his host of off-the-field issues, but on the field, he's a legend at Texas A&M, winning the Heisman in 2012.
The Aggies now look ahead to the 2024 season with more teams like Oklahoma and Texas entering the SEC. Now, though, they believe the right head coach and advice from notable alumni will get the program headed in the right direction.
