Dave Aranda coaching career: Baylor HC's professional career in CFB arena explored

Baylor Bears coach Dave Aranda is best known for his stints as a defensive coordinator for several programs nationwide and for making his teams stingy in defense.

Aranda started his coaching career right after high school, where he played linebacker and had to quit due to niggling injuries. His first post was as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Redlands High School in California.

Next, he was a student assistant at California Lutheran and was the linebackers coach between 1996 and 1999.

Aranda then learned his craft under legendary coach Mike Leach as a graduate assistant for the Texas Tech Red Raiders between 2000 and 2002.

Between 2003 and 2007, Dave Aranda was the linebackers coach at Houston, then the defensive coordinator at Cal Lutheran and Delta State.

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Dave Aranda left LSU to become Baylor HC

Between 2008 and 2019, Dave Aranda was the defensive coordinator of Hawaii, Utah State, Wisconsin and LSU.

He helped to lead the LSU Tigers of Joe Burrow to the 2019 national championship. Aranda has talked about how, although he thrived at LSU, he was not himself.

"I felt when I was (at LSU) that I was like a machine," Aranda said. "I didn't really talk, and it got to the point where I was there long enough to where people kind of understood that, and they would protect me or shield me from talking, and then it just became worse. I would remove myself a lot. I just wouldn't engage, more than anything."

Immediately after winning the national championship with LSU, Dave Aranda was appointed to the Baylor head coach job, his first.

Baylor finished the season with a 12-2 record, the Big 12 championship and a Sugar Bowl victory. For his efforts, Aranda was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year.

Then things began going wrong, and the Baylor Bears finished last season with a 6-7 losing record after the highs of Aranda's first year as a head coach. He admitted that this was due to his failure to embrace the transfer portal.

“I think one of the struggles for me has always been if you say yes to something, a player outside of your team that’s in the portal, you’re saying no to a player on your team,” Aranda said.

“I think for me to kind of come to grips with, 'Hey, this is what needs to happen for the betterment of the team,' as opposed to just looking at what’s best for that one particular player on your team.”

This season has not started any better for the Baylor Bears, who are now 1-3 after losing against the Texas Longhorns. Dave Aranda will hope to conjure up some of the magic from the 2021 season to save Baylor's season.