What Mike Elko did at Duke this year was simply astonishing, as he coached Duke to an 8-4 regular season. He’s your slam dunk ACC COY. FSU’s Mike Norvell is the only other ACC coach that should be mentioned in the same sentence as Elko.
As other coaches like Dino Babers and Mack Brown made their case early, they fell away.
Elko led Duke to 4 wins in their final 5 games, and a second place finish in the Coastal Division.
The Blue Devils were the preseason pick to finish last in the ACC Coastal and won their most regular season games since 2014.
They had 500 yards of offense against Wake Forest Saturday in the 34-31 win. QB Riley Leonard is playing some of the best football at the position this side of Florida State’s Jordan Travis. Saturday Leonard threw for 391 yards and 4 TDs, and he’s been a rock solid QB all year.
Some coaches will sell you on multi-year rebuilds, but excellent coaches will not use that as an excuse.
Mike Elko coached with what he had available and turned Duke from a team that was 5-18 (1-17) the last two years to a bowl team with the potential to win 9 games and finish in the top 25.
That is unbelievable, and a testament to the job Elko has done. He will be a very deserving ACC COY, as my podcast co-host @Hokiesmash_ASD already said last week.
Coach Elko has our endorsement for the award.
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