-
Max Olson
Multiple Authors
Texas A&M coach Mike Elko expressed regret Monday for his comments after losing to Missouri in which he referred to the website TexAgs and a portion of the Aggies’ fanbase as a “cesspool.”
After the Aggies dropped to 3-3 on Saturday with a 27-6 defeat at No. 14 Missouri, Elko was asked what his message would be to Texas A&M fans who might be worried. He said there is a difference between the fanbase and social media, with a nod to Billy Liucci, the executive editor and co-owner of TexAgs.
“There’s one group that I really don’t care much about. Billy’s cesspool can go be Billy’s cesspool,” Elko said. “Our fanbase: Stay with us, be behind us, we’re going to build something that we told you we were going to build. We’re in a really bad spot right now, but we’ll work our way out of it.”
On Monday, with Liucci in attendance at his weekly news conference, Elko said the viral comment was made in the heat of the moment and came across in a “way that I certainly regret.”
“I think everybody knows I have a tremendous relationship with Billy,” Elko said. “I appreciate Billy. I appreciate him being here today. There’s nothing about him and I that have ever been off since 2018. I think everybody knows I appreciate our fanbase and everything that they’re about and everything that they mean to Texas A&M. Outside of that, I’ll leave it alone.
“I regret the way it was taken. I regret the way it came out. I regret the way it ran. That certainly was never my intention. And certainly, throughout the course of that interview, at no point ever did I lend any blame to anything other than myself. I am the reason why this team is struggling. I have owned that since this has started. I continue to own that. It’s my job to figure out how to get it better.”
TexAgs, an independent fan site, was founded in 1997. It is the largest entity providing daily coverage of Texas A&M athletics, hosts a message board for its thousands of subscribers, and partners with the university to create NIL opportunities for A&M student-athletes.
In response to Elko’s comments Saturday, Liucci posted on his X account later that afternoon that “calling out an incredibly large portion of the loyal but also understandably frustrated fan base was a wildly unnecessary misstep.”
The Aggies (3-3, 1-3 SEC) were No. 8 in the preseason AP Top 25 after an 11-2 season and the program’s first appearance in the College Football Playoff in Elko’s second year. However, losses to Kentucky, LSU and Missouri along with persistent struggles on offense have jeopardized their CFP ambitions.
Quarterback Marcel Reed ranks 15th among SEC starters in passing yards per game (182.8) with six passing touchdowns, six interceptions and the No. 92 QBR (45.5) in FBS. He is leading an offense that has put up six points in each of its past two losses. Elko called it a “go-back-to-the-drawing-board moment again” for an offense that must find ways to get more creative and efficient going forward.
Elko also said Monday he had handed over defensive playcalling duties to D-coordinator Lyle Hemphill following the Aggies’ 35-6 loss at LSU to take on a CEO role and be more helpful in addressing the team’s problems.
“That was an important step just so I could have the freedom to be involved in everything,” Elko said. “I just think that was probably to the detriment of us for a couple weeks — LSU, Kentucky — trying to do too many things and probably not doing any of them well, to be honest.”
Texas A&M will face an FCS opponent, The Citadel, on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network+), before continuing SEC play with a road test against No. 6 Alabama on Oct. 24.
