Duke football head coach Mike Elko (Jaylynn Nash-USA TODAY Sports)
Duke Football: Mike Elko Matches Jon Scheyer's Mark, Nearing Coach K
Duke football moved to 3-0 this season with its delightfully dominant 38-14 victory over visiting Northwestern on Saturday.
And it gave Mike Elko (12-4) the lead over Wallace Wade (110-36-7) — the namesake of the program's 94-year-old stadium — for the highest overall win percentage (75.0) among all Blue Devil gridiron coaches in the past 100 years.
Furthermore, the second-year Duke football head coach's mark is now tied with second-year Duke basketball chief Jon Scheyer (27-9).
Sure, Elko, 46, and Scheyer, 36, still have work to do to surpass retired Blue Devil legend and five-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski's 78.5 win percentage (1,129-309) across his 42 years at the helm on the Blue Devil hardwood.
At least temporarily, Jon Scheyer could get there in November with a 6-0 start to the 2023-24 Duke basketball campaign. Doing so would require his Blue Devils to defeat both Arizona and Michigan State, not to mention they'd need to win at Arkansas in their seventh game to keep Scheyer above Krzyzewski's mark.
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Mike Elko, the reigning ACC Coach of the Year and a leading early contender for the national honor this year given the Blue Devils' three-touchdown upset win over then-No. 9 Clemson in Week 1 and family-style feast against Lafayette and Northwestern, can get there with three more wins in a row.
Despite the next Duke football game being the Blue Devils' first road test, they should be heavy favorites at 0-3 UConn on Saturday.
But then Elko's bunch would need to pull off what would probably still be considered a significant upset by knocking off Notre Dame (currently in the top 10 with its 3-0 start) in Wallace Wade Stadium on Sept. 30 before welcoming NC State (2-1 with its only loss being to Notre Dame) to town following Duke's bye week.
At that point, with a win over the Wolfpack, Elko would boast, at least temporarily, the highest win percentage among all multi-year Duke football and basketball head coaches in history.
It's certainly within reach. Again, though, the same is true for Scheyer.
Bragging rights between them aside, there's every reason to believe Duke's Elko and Scheyer era may become a historically successful operation.
And as Elko explained to Blue Devil Country on SI.com following his team's statement stomping of Clemson two weeks ago, in many ways, he and Scheyer view their programs' pursuit of greatness as a joint effort. Elko undoubtedly sees Duke basketball's popularity and stature as treasures to embrace rather than resent.
"I said it from the day I got here," Elko reiterated, "we have a phenomenal basketball program. And that's not anything to shy away from. I love going to Cameron [Indoor Stadium]. I love watching games. I'm honored that I got a chance to meet Coach K and spend some time with him. I'm excited that I've got a great relationship with Jon Scheyer and [fourth-year Duke women's basketball head coach] Kara Lawson.
"We're Duke. And we're Duke athletics...We have a lot of excellent programs. We just need to elevate Duke football to get to that level."
Steve Spurrier (20-13-1 across his 1987-89 stint) is the only Duke football head coach since the mid-1960s to finish with a winning record. Conversely, it's worth noting that Neill McGeachy (10-16 in his lone season running the show in 1973-74) is the only Duke basketball head coach since the 1920s to finish with a losing record.
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Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more Duke football and basketball news.
