A 2020 National Champion and 28-year coaching veteran, Dave Aranda was named the 28th head coach in Baylor Football history on Jan. 16, 2020.
Aranda (uh-RAN-duh) came to Waco after four seasons as associate head coach and defensive coordinator at LSU, including a 2020 National Championship and a 2019 SEC Championship. Widely considered one of the top defensive minds in football, Aranda has a track record of producing NFL-ready players.
Baylor earned its third bowl bid in the five years under Aranda in 2024, advancing to the Kinder’s Texas Bowl in a matchup vs. LSU. The Bears ripped off a six-game winning streak to end the year, the longest win streak to conclude a regular-season in program history. The Bears finished the year 8-5, which included a win-streak sparking beatdown of Texas Tech in Lubbock, 59-35, and wins over Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia, Houston and a rout of Kansas in the regular-season finale.
Baylor was buoyed by one of the nation’s best offensive attacks over the last two months of the season, ranking among the NCAA’s top-6 in points per game, yards per play and yards per game over October and November, the only program in the nation to rank among the top 6 in those three categories. The Bears used the emergence of two of the best players in college football to power the offensive attack, featuring junior QB Sawyer Robertson – who led the Big 12 in QBR and ranked sixth nationally – and RB Bryson Washington, who shattered the school record for rushing yards by a freshman, becoming the first frosh to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in program history, all while rolling to six 100+ yard rushing games.
WR Josh Cameron finished the year with 10 TDs and over 750 receiving yards, while also setting the school record for punt return average in a season. Cameron and punter Palmer Williams finished just shy of the NCAA statistical minimums that would qualify them to lead the nation in their respective categories, with Williams ranking as the NCAA leader in punts among punters with at least 2.5 punts per game but short of the NCAA standard of 3.6 punts per game. Cameron was two returns shy of qualifying for the national lead with 20.7 yards per punt return. Cameron and Williams both earned All-America honors following the season.
Defensively, Aranda took over play-calling duties and helped spur the final two months of the season. It marked his first time calling plays since the 2019 LSU National Championship season and saw the Bears improve 30 spots in total defense from 2023 to 2024. Aranda won the Graphite Award in the Big 12, given to the most efficient play caller in the conference, which had the Bears ranked as the eighth-most efficient defensive play calling team in the nation.
His defense was led by a dynamic duo at the inside linebacker post, the position group that Aranda directly coached. Senior Matt Jones totaled 113 tackles and sophomore Keaton Thomas finished with a team-leading 114, with the pair earning first-team All-Big 12 Conference honors. The pair were the first linebacker duo for the Bears to finish with 100+ tackles since 2012.
Overall, the Bears ranked among the national lead in a bevy of categories in 2024, including in the top-40 in third-down conversions (32nd), third-down conversion defense (35th), blocked kicks (27th), blocked punts (20th), first-down offense (27th), fewest fumbles lost (24th), net punting (eighth), interceptions (27th), passing offense (34th), passing yards per completion (22nd), punt returns (1st), red zone defense (36th), sacks allowed (36th), scoring offense (19th), fewest tackles for a loss allowed (fourth), team passing efficiency (19th), total offense (20th), turnover margin (35th), turnovers gained (36th), turnovers lost (32nd).
The Bears went 3-9 in Aranda’s fourth season at the helm, which included the largest comeback in program history, a 35-34 win at UCF that saw Baylor rally from down 28 in the second half to pull off the win. Baylor played the youngest roster in the Big 12 Conference in 2023, which featured just south of 50% of its snaps played by underclassmen and a league-leading number of snaps played by freshmen.
Baylor went into the offseason for the 2024 season with a furious mission to support that youthful talent from the 2023 roster with a bevy of standouts from the transfer portal, all while revamping the coaching staff to include Khenon Hall (associate head coach/RBs), Jake Spavital (offensive coordinator/QBs), Jarrett Anderson (TEs), Inoke Breckterfield (DL), Jamar Chaney (ILBs) and Mason Miller (OL). Aranda has taken over defensive play calling duties and is working directly in a position coach role with the inside linebackers, harkening back to his strength as one of the nation’s best defensive minds. The Bears have also embraced the new era of name, image and likeness, and have quickly positioned themselves as a leader in that space in college football, with Chief of Staff Jeff Grigus, Associate AD for NIL Administration and Pro Relations Keava Soil-Cormier and departmental wide NIL General Manger David Kaye forming a dynamic team in supporting roster development.
Aranda led the Bears to their 11th bowl game in the last 13 years in 2022, a season that saw Baylor ranked in the top-25 polls in 10 of 16 weeks. Baylor earned a pair of monumental road wins, including a rout at Texas Tech for its first win in Lubbock since 1990, in a series that played 10 straight in Arlington, and a win at Oklahoma to claim BU’s second straight win over the Sooners. Baylor won three games on the road in league play, just one win shy of the program record for road league wins.
In 2022, the Bears saw defensive tackle Siaki Ika earn All-America honors from Phil Steele. Running back Richard Reese shattered the freshman rushing record and earned Big 12 Conference Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
In just his second season in Waco, Aranda led Baylor to a third Big 12 Championship and the biggest bowl win in program history, a 21-7 Sugar Bowl victory over Ole Miss. The win was Baylor’s first BCS/New Year’s Six bowl win in the modern era.
The Bears also won 12 games for the first time in program history, despite being picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 preseason media poll. BU finished the season ranked No. 5 nationally, the highest final ranking in program history.
Following the season’s success, Aranda was named the 2021 George Munger Coach of the Year and was a 2021 Coach of the Year finalist for three separate awards, including the Bear Bryant Award, Dodd Trophy and Eddie Robinson Award. He also received Big 12 Coach of the Year honors from the Associated Press.
In 2021, Aranda’s Bears tied for the best turnaround in college football, boasting a ten-win improvement from the previous year, including a school-record five wins against ranked opponents.
The turnaround was spurred by complementary football, spearheaded by a defense that held every opponent to 30-points or fewer, one of just three teams in the country to accomplish the feat. Under the direction of Aranda and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts, the defense punctuated their dominant season with an Allstate Sugar Bowl-record 10-sacks, while linebacker Terrel Bernard tied a Sugar Bowl record with 20 tackles. On average, the BU defense held opponents 13.2 points per game below their season average.
Under the guidance of Aranda and first-year offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, Baylor’s offense ranked 10th nationally with 5.37 yards per rush. BU increased its rushing production by 142% from 2020, raising its rushing average from 90.3 yards per game (123rd nationally) to 219.3 yards per game (10th nationally). Additionally, Baylor ranked inside the nation’s top-15 in fewest sacks allowed. Baylor running back Abram Smith also set program records with nine 100-yard rushing games in a single season along with the single-season rushing record (1,601).
In 2021, Baylor had seven players named to the All-Big 12 first- and second-teams, including four individual award winners in Jalen Pitre (Defensive Player of the Year), Trestan Ebner (Special Teams Player of the Year), Connor Galvin (Offensive Lineman of the Year) and Siaki Ika (Defensive Newcomer of the Year). Additionally, Pitre was one of three finalists for the 2021 Jim Thorpe Award, honoring the nation’s top defensive back.
Three different Bears earned seven All-America honors from the five publications that make up the NCAA’s consensus teams, highlighted by Pitre’s four first-team accolades and one second-team recognition. Jacob Gall (second-team) and Galvin (third-team) were also recognized.
In his first season at Baylor, Aranda’s program featured his first player earning All-America honors, with Trestan Ebner being selected to four different All-America teams. Additionally, Ebner was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year, and nine players were selected to the All-Big 12 team highlighted by first-team defensive back Jalen Pitre.
In six seasons as a defensive coordinator at a Power 5 Conference school, Aranda’s defenses ranked in the Top 12 nationally in total yards five times. His defenses also ranked among the top 10 in scoring four of his final seven years. Since taking over as the defensive coordinator at Utah State in 2014 through his last season at LSU in 2019, Aranda’s defenses allowed a touchdown or less in 48 of 108 games.
Over LSU’s final five games of the 2019 season, including the SEC Championship and College Football Playoff, the Tigers allowed only 18 ppg with wins over No. 3 Clemson, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 4 Georgia, Texas A&M, and Arkansas. In that stretch, the Tigers’ defense allowed only 295.0 yards per game and intercepted six passes.
In his four years as defensive coordinator with the Tigers from 2016-19, Aranda had 18 of his players selected in the NFL Draft, including first-round picks K’Lavon Chaisson (2020), Patrick Queen (2020), Devin White (2019), Tre’Davious White (2017) and Jamal Adams (2017). In addition to the draft picks, eight more of Aranda’s LSU defenders have made NFL rosters as free agents. From 2010-15, Aranda had six defenders drafted from stops at Hawai’i, Utah State, and Wisconsin.
During his stay at LSU, the Tigers increased their win total each season and produced a 42-11 overall mark. Seven players earned first-team All-America, and 11 achieved first-team All-SEC status under Aranda. All-America honorees include first-team selections Derek Stingley, Jr. (2019), Grant Delpit (2018-19), Devin White (2018), Greedy Williams (2018), Tre’Davious White (2016), and Jamal Adams (2016).
Led by 2019 Thorpe Award winner Delpit, LSU’s defense ranked No. 2 in the SEC in sacks (37.0), tackles for loss (96.0), and turnover margin (+10) while completing a perfect 15-0 record. The Tigers ranked No. 6 nationally and led the SEC, allowing third-down conversions only 29.6 percent of the time. LSU’s 17 interceptions ranked No. 5 in the nation and led the SEC.
Aranda pupil Jacob Phillips was the 2019 SEC leader with 113 tackles, the second consecutive season an LSU linebacker led the league in stops following Devin White in 2018.
White, a player Aranda groomed for three years, became LSU’s first Butkus Award winner in 2018. He capped his LSU career by earning consensus All-America honors on his way to becoming the highest-drafted linebacker in school history.
Under Aranda’s direction from 2016-19, LSU ranked in the top five in most defensive categories in the SEC. The Tigers led the SEC in interceptions from 2018-19, along with ranking in the top three in rushing defense and sacks three times between 2016-19. His defensive unit has also ranked in the top five in passing defense and total defense in three of those four seasons, along with top four in scoring defense twice in that period.
In his first two seasons in Baton Rouge, Aranda’s defense allowed a mere 20 passing touchdowns, with the 11 allowed in 2017 tying for fifth nationally. In his first season in 2016, LSU’s defense had one of its best-ever performances as the unit finished the season ranked among the top three in the SEC in four major defensive categories, a feat not accomplished since 2006. It allowed the fewest total touchdowns (16) nationally and fewest touchdowns per game (1.3). The defense ranked fifth nationally in scoring with 15.8 points allowed per game and 10th in total yards allowed (314.4 yards per game). The Tigers held nine of 12 opponents to one touchdown or less, and only one opponent scored more than two offensive touchdowns. Individually, linebacker Arden Key broke the school record for sacks in a season with 12.
