I don't understand why Dave Aranda hasn't gotten more love when it comes to coaching searches at big time programs. Is it not clear to everyone just how good of a job he's done at Baylor? He takes over the program after Matt Rhule leaves for the NFL, and not only keeps them relevant, but has them in the Big 12 title game this year.
Think about this, before Art Briles, was Baylor ever relevant? Once the giant scandal hit the news and Briles was let go, was Baylor relevant in the time before they brought in Rhule? It's easy for a program like Baylor to fall into the doldrums of college football. Instead, Aranda has the Bears at #9 in the country, with a chance, albeit a sliver of a chance, at the CFB Playoff. That's pretty damn impressive, even before you get into the team stats.
Aranda is a defensive guy. He's proven it by structuring a defense that is #2 in the Big 12, only giving up 233 points for an average of 19.4 a game, IN THE BIG 12. When have we ever associated this conference with defense? Normally each game turns into a shootout with defense sold separately. But not only are they strong defensively, they were #3 in the conference in total offense, averaging 33.4 ppg. In what world do we see defensive guys also have explosive offenses like this? Normally defensive coaches will struggle to get their offense going, especially this early in their tenure.
I'm not even going to dive into what he did at LSU during their championship run in 2019, I'm just going to state the obvious. Dave Aranda needs to get offered a job at a school like USC (already got Lincoln Riley), LSU (already have Brian Kelly), Notre Dame (reportedly promoting their DC, which I do like) or Oklahoma (reportedly taking on Lane Kiffin). I'll put Baylor on a similar level to Ole Miss, so moving from Baylor to the Rebels would be more lateral than an upgrade to me. But that being said, the dude has earned it. Give him the bag already.
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