After six and a half seasons, Baylor ended the Dave Aranda era on Sunday.
“Everyone who knows Dave Aranda understands what a genuine and honorable person he is and how deeply he cares about his players, his staff and this university,” McNamee said. “He is a gifted coach and brilliant football mind whose leadership has brought some of our best football memories to Baylor. Although this is a difficult time, we believe a change in direction is necessary at this time for our program. We will always be grateful to Dave and his family for their time here at Baylor, and we wish them well.”
There is a certain personality that your typical FBS head coach cuts. You don’t become the alpha in a room full of football coaches without a good amount of alpha in you. Your voice probably reaches maximum volume quite frequently. And then there’s Dave Aranda. For years I joked that he was the Power 4 head coach most likely not to own furniture. You don’t get as high as Aranda swimming upstream from a personality standpoint without being a really good coach and someone people enjoy being around. Ultimately, that’s why Aranda lasted so long in Waco.
What was the highlight? It’s easy. It wasn’t just about upsetting No. 5 Oklahoma State to win the 2021 Big 12 championship, it was how they won it. A stand at the goal line, with safety Jairon McVea providing instructional tape on how to pursue flat at the line of scrimmage for as long as football has existed.
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The Bears would defeat No. 8 Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, providing the second New Year’s Bowl victory in program history. Baylor’s fifth-place finish in the AP poll was the highest in program history.
What was the low point? We could point to the 3-9 mark in 2023, but I think that was a few Saturdays ago, October 17th. The acquisitions of quarterback DJ Lagway and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman provided a now-or-never rally for the Aranda era heading into this season. After losing by one to Auburn in the opener, the Bears had won four in a row as they hosted rival TCU in Waco and, in front of a sellout crowd, put up little to no fight in a 17-6 loss to a struggling Horned Frogs team. If Aranda had wanted to save his job for good, Baylor would have won this game. They weren’t close.
That’s not why he was fired Sunday, but Aranda leaves Waco with an unfortunate 1-5 record against TCU, and a 30-28 loss to a 5-7 Frogs team in 2021 ultimately kept Baylor out of the playoffs.
What did Aranda get right? After a 2-7 start, Aranda made a drastic change in direction on offense with wisdom and boldness. He fired offensive coordinator Larry Fedora – a former ACC head coach, Texas native and purveyor of the spread offense – to implement a wide zone attack under Jeff Grimes. In one year, Baylor went from 123rd to 10th nationally in rushing, and in doing so, from two wins to 12.
He also represented the university with class, and the respect he garnered within the university kept him in school longer than on-field results dictated. Baylor is likely moving on after last season without the abrupt departure of AD Mack Rhoades, but it’s also not like giving Aranda one more season requires a lot of arm twisting.
What did Aranda get wrong? Aranda hired Matt Powledge to run his defense in 2023, but had to take over play-calling duties in 2024. Against conference opponents, Baylor has only finished in the top half of Big 12 defenses once after winning the league title in 2021 — and that was a fifth-place finish in 2022.
Where does Baylor go from here? There’s really no need to think too much about it. Texas produces tons of football players, as well as football coaches. The school is located roughly in the middle of the Dallas-Austin-Houston triangle, where most of these players come from. A longtime doormat of the Big 12, its last three coaches have won or played for the Big 12 championship, and Baylor has won by tapping into the Texas high school pipeline with Art Briles (a former TXHSFB coach) and Matt Rhule (who smartly hired a number of former TXHSFB coaches). Jeff Traylor won two conference championships at UTSA and has yet to have a losing season, despite a revolving door of coaches and players leaving for the Power 4. That wouldn’t be such a problem for him at Baylor.
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