It’s not even October, but silly season for college football has already begun with two head coach openings in the Big Ten at Northwestern and Michigan State.
One name that has not only been floating around, but quickly rising to the top on wishlists is second-year Duke head coach Mike Elko. And for good reason. The Blue Devils went 9-4 last season in Elko’s first year at the helm – marking just the seventh time in program history that Duke had won at least nine games in a single season. This year, Duke is off to a 4-0 start, ranked 17th in the AP Top 25 Poll – its highest ranking since 1994 – and is hosting ESPN’s College GameDay for the first time ever Saturday ahead of the Blue Devils’ matchup with Notre Dame.
With that, the head coach of the team that hosts GameDay typically appears on the show. And since Michigan State made its firing of Mel Tucker official this week, the GameDay crew hypothesized about who should be the next coach to lead the Spartans.
During this discussion, Elko was standing slightly out of frame, but Pat McAfee guided a camera toward him, begging for a response.
Elko simply shook his head and gave a thumbs down.
NOPE pic.twitter.com/GJ0R2fEcP3
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) September 30, 2023
Elko, 46, did just sign an extension with Duke this past offseason and, in a short time, is taking the program to heights it has only seen a handful of times before.
If the Blue Devils keep winning, McAfee’s fake offer for him to take over at Michigan State won’t be the only one he may have to consider turning down.