For roughly 48 hours, Mike Elko witnessed the wrath he had engendered in a fan base that already wasn't particularly happy with him. From that experience, he came away with a simple, two-word message.
I'm sorry.
The third-year Texas A&M football coach apologized on Monday, Oct. 12 for remarks he made after the Aggies' 27-6 loss at No. 13 Missouri
in which, among other things, he described a popular Texas A&M website and message board as a "cesspool."Though he didn't specifically name the website in question, he referred to it as "Billy's cesspool," referencing Billy Liucci, the longtime co-owner and editor of TexAgs.
"In the heat of the moment,
I think I answered a question in a way I certainly regret," Elko said during a news conference. "I think everybody knows I have a tremendous relationship with Billy. I appreciate Billy. I appreciate him being here today. There's nothing about Billy and I that has ever been off since 2018. I think everybody knows I appreciate our fan base and everything they're about and everything they mean to Texas A&M. Outside of that, I'll leave it alone."
Mike Elko apologizes for postgame "cesspool" comments
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) October 12, 2026
"In the heat of the moment, I answered a question in a way I regret.
"Everyone knows I have a tremendous relationship with @billyliucci. I appreciate Billy."
"I think everybody knows I appreciate our fan base and everything… pic.twitter.com/jBE2LMYHDy
The lopsided defeat against the Tigers was the Aggies' third loss in their past four games, dropping a team that was No. 8 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll to 3-3 on the season. In the loss, Texas A&M managed just 216 total yards, with quarterback Marcel Reed embodying many of those struggles on a day in which he completed only 19 of 39 passes for 187 yards and two interceptions.
According to a recent survey from The Athletic, Texas A&M has one of the five most expensive rosters in college football, one believed to be worth between $45 and $50 million.
Reed's regression without offensive coordinator Collin Klein, now the head coach at Kansas State, and the Aggies' wildly disappointing start after making the College Football Playoff last season has made Elko the target of some intense criticism.
After the loss to Missouri, he had been asked about what his message to Texas A&M fans is, at which point he made the differentiation between "the fan base and social media" before specifically taking aim to TexAgs.
"I regret the way it was taken," Elko said on Oct. 12. "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 did I ever 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."
Despite the recent missteps, Elko has fared well at Texas A&M, where he had previously served as the defensive coordinator from 2018-21. The Aggies are 22-10 under Elko, including an 11-2 mark last season that earned them the No. 7 seed to the playoff, where it lost in the first round to eventual national runner-up Miami.
It was Texas A&M's first season with more than nine wins since 2012. Last November, near the end of the 2025 regular season, Elko was rewarded with a new six-year contract that runs through the 2031 season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Elko apologizes for 'cesspool' comment about Texas A&M message board
