ORLANDO – Without mentioning Texas A&M directly, Brian Kelly suggested another program showed interest in taking defensive coordinator Mike Elko away from Notre Dame after the Citrus Bowl.

But according to Notre Dame’s head coach, who spoke to Irish Illustrated exclusively on the night of the team reconvening here, Elko isn’t going anywhere.

On paper it’s hard to imagine Elko making a lateral move to College Station after a single season in South Bend, but Texas A&M is still searching for a defensive coordinator after Jimbo Fisher’s shock 10-year deal worth $75 million after he left Florida State. Fisher recently said he expects to name a defensive coordinator soon.

It won’t be Elko, according to Kelly.

“If you’re looking at the defensive coordinators that are out there today and you look at what they’re being paid, it’s ridiculous,” Kelly said. “The money is crazy and the length of contracts that are being thrown at you. You look at it that way, you’re probably going to catch somebody’s eye early on in the process, and I’m not saying that it happened or it didn’t happen, you can put two and two together.”

An Elko departure after one season would be deflating for Notre Dame after he took the inherited talent and coached it into a defense that didn’t allow more than 20 points during any of the season’s opening eight games while finishing the regular season in the Top 30 in yards per play and third down conversion allowed. The Irish allowed just nine rushing touchdowns all season, which ranked ninth nationally.

The Irish were surprisingly good against the big play too, allowing just eight 30-yard pass plays all year. That led the nation. Considering the safety position has to hold up to make that stat work, it’s remarkable the Irish thrived with Navy transfer Alohi Gilman ineligible due to transfer rules.

Kelly said Gilman, who was honorable mention all-American Athletic Conference as a freshman, would have started for Notre Dame this fall if he’d been cleared. That’s a strong commentary on what the Irish had in Nick Coleman, Jalen Elliott and Devin Studstill.

For the first time in the modern era of Notre Dame football (dating back to Ara Parseghian’s first season in 1964), the safety position didn’t make an interception all year.

“It’s an incredible job,” Kelly said. “On a safety driven defense where you have to fill and tackle at that position, the work that he did, those kids played hard for him, but there were some deficiencies, so to get the kind of production that we did with not having all of those pieces where he needs them was an incredible job.”

Gilman will be eligible next fall and could start alongside freshman Jordan Genmark Heath. Incoming freshman Derrik Allen could also play a part in a revamp at the back.

Regardless of who’s playing, it’s clear who will do the coaching.

Another program might be able to pay Elko more, but Kelly believes the fit with Elko at Notre Dame is a match that will endure. In fact, Kelly said he expects all 10 assistants back, starting with that Broyles Award contender.

“Yeah, it’s been a challenge, but we’ll all be together,” Kelly said. “At first glance, yeah, I think you’re always on guard (about losing a coach), especially the defensive coordinator position. Mike came in, did a really good job. His name was out there, but he’s gonna be here at Notre Dame.”