Baylor Make Decision On Head Coach Dave Aranda For 2025 Season
11/16/2024 09:34 PM
When the Baylor Bears hired Dave Aranda as their head coach in 2020 following his brilliant work as defensive coordinator for the 2019 LSU Tigers, they were expecting that he would make them a major force in the Big 12 Conference. After going 29-29 through five seasons, what does the future hold for him?
On Saturday, Aranda led Baylor to bowl eligibility with a 49-35 win over West Virginia. The win was Baylor's fourth straight as they've reached 6-4 on the season with two games to go. After the game, SicEm365 reported that Baylor have confirmed Aranda will return as their head coach in 2025.
"A Baylor spokesperson has confirmed with SicEm365 that Dave Aranda will return as head coach of the Baylor program for the 2025 season," Colt Barber of SicEm365 reported.
Head Coach Dave Aranda To Officially Return For 2025 Season https://t.co/Y1gjjcPflI via @sicem365
— Colt Barber (@Colt_Barber) November 17, 2024
Fans on social media were certainly happy for the news:
"The players at Baylor want Dave Aranda to be their coach and are playing like it with 4 straight W's to get Bowl eligible. O is averaging 45.7 ppg over the last 4, OC Jake Spavital has Sawyer Robertson playing the best ball of his career and Bryson Washington is a walking TD," NFL analyst and Baylor legend Robert Griffin III wrote on X.
"Of all the people I'm happy for, it's Dave Aranda 1st. Lots of people (even within our number) were calling for his head. You know who you are. You made fun of those who kept saying they believed in the guy. All I know is I fervently wanted that guy to be our coach. Perfect fit," wrote another.
"One could genuinely argue that Dave Aranda has pulled off the two biggest program turnarounds of the 2020s, both at the same school. Baylor has looked massively improved from 2023 (and even from the beginning of this season). #SicEm," a third wrote.
Getty Images.
Dave Aranda is currently under contract through 2029, following an extension he received in 2022 after leading the team to the Big 12 title, a Sugar Bowl win and their highest-ever ranking in the Associated Press postseason poll.
He's had a pretty up-and-down tenure with the Bears though. Aside from the 2021 season which saw Baylor go 12-2, he's been 17-27 in his other four seasons. Even if you discount the chaos of the pandemic-affected 2020 season, he's 15-20 since 2022.
The Big 12 Conference is still sorting itself through the departure of Texas and Oklahoma plus the addition of BYU, Colorado, Utah and the other newcomers. We'll find over over the next year whether Aranda has the Bears set up to be a true contender in the evolving conference or if this year's turnaround was just a mirage.
Related: Dave Aranda Signs Big Contract Extension: Fans React
