Why 'familiarity' played a major role in Texas A&M's QB coach hire

5 days ago 2

On Thursday, it was revealed that Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko once again elevated multiple staff members to key positions, as John Perry will take over as the wide receivers coach after Holmon Wiggins was promoted to offensive coordinator, while analyst Joey Lynch will take over as the program's quarterbacks coach ahead of the 2026 season.

In a nutshell, this news did not sit well with most of the online Aggie fan base, who were hoping Elko would go outside his current staff for both jobs, especially the quarterbacks coach, after starting signal-caller Marcel Reed's poor performance at the end of the 2025 season. Still, after finishing 11-2 while making the College Football Playoff for the first time in program history, Elko has slowly but surely earned the fan base's trust.

While both of these elevations were rumored earlier this month, this follows a trend: Elko has yet to make a "splash" hire, on paper at least, outside of bringing in Collin Klein before his inaugural season. So, why elevate Joey Lynch ahead of Marcel Reed's critical third season, and second as the full-time starter?

Thanks to Austin American-Statesman writer Tony Catalina for the brief yet informative post about Lynch's past relationship with Reed during the veteran assistant coach's recent stint at Vanderbilt, where he served as the Commodores' quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator and routinely connected with Reed on his various recruiting trips.

Marcel Reed is a Nashville, Tennessee native, and is already familiar with Lynch's coaching style. Not to sugarcoat or "spin" a narrative, but it's notable that, despite not working out at Vanderbilt, Lynch was a Broyles Award nominee during the 2019 season after leading Ball State to a top 25 finish in total yards as the program's OC.

These are simply facts: until 2026 begins, it's fair game to criticize the hire, but everything is nice until the games are played and we see any change in Marcel Reed's performance.

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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Texas A&M HC Mike Elko hoping new QB coach Joey Lynch pans out

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