Baylor’s reset begins with Joe Klanderman, and the interim coach isn’t pretending the mood around the program doesn’t need a spark.
He said Monday that he wants to bring a “jolt of energy” to the Bears, and he made clear he thinks that lift has to reach everyone around the program.
“I think the players need it. I think the staff needs it. I think the fan base needs it, I think the alumni need it,” Klanderman said Monday.
Klanderman, Baylor’s first-year defensive coordinator, was elevated after Dave Aranda was fired Sunday. Aranda went 40-40 over 6½ seasons, and Baylor is 26-31 since its school-record 12-win season in 2021, when the Bears won the Big 12 and beat in the Sugar Bowl during Aranda’s second year.
The change comes with Baylor sitting at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12, but the recent stretch has been rough. The Bears dropped a 25-24 decision at Kansas on Saturday when a late field goal was blocked, and that came on the heels of a 17-6 home loss to struggling TCU that ended a four-game winning streak.
“There’s a lot of work to be done this season … Heck, half the season is still left,” Klanderman said. “Every goal that we had set in the preseason is still in front of us right now, and so we’re gonna work and attack every game, and we’re gonna move forward.”
At 47, Klanderman has never been a head coach. He arrived at Baylor last December after seven seasons on Chris Klieman’s staff at Kansas State, where he was part of the 2022 Big 12 title team.
Before that, he worked with Klieman at North Dakota State for four Football Championship Subdivision national titles in a five-year span. He also spent 2002-13 at Division II Minnesota State, his alma mater.
Baylor’s search for its next full-time coach has already started, though athletic director Doug McNamee indicated in an open letter Monday that the calendar makes it likely the hire won’t happen until December.
“We want to bring in someone who will launch a generation of consistent winning,” McNamee wrote. “There are certainly non-negotiables when it comes to how we win and represent Baylor and its Christian mission, but it is imperative that we win because there is no substitute for how it fuels our priorities, our goals, and our future.”
Klanderman said he wants to do well in the interim role, and he also acknowledged that he’d be interested in the permanent job. Still, he said he won’t turn the situation into a campaign.
“Would I be interested in being the head coach of a program in the Big 12 that’s played football for 127 years in the best football-playing state in the union with a tremendous fan base and tremendous facilities and opportunities? Certainly.
Am I going to go out there and campaign and use this platform as a way to get that? Absolutely not.”
Baylor’s immediate task comes quickly. The Bears have a short week before traveling to UCF on Friday night.
UCF is 4-3 and 2-2 after a 39-31 double-overtime win at home over then-No. 2 BYU.
After that, Baylor’s November run gets demanding in a hurry. The Bears open the month against Iowa State, then face No.
8 BYU, No. 13 Texas Tech and No.
18 Houston over a three-week stretch to close the regular season.
In Other News...
BYU Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious After That Finish
The frustration around BYUs latest Big 12 finish is not coming out of nowhere. The conference has now acknowledged officiating errors in recent games involving BYU, UCF and Notre Dame, a blunt reminder that the discussion around missed calls has moved well beyond one isolated moment. ESPNs Rece Davis added to the criticism by pointing to the repeated administrative mistakes that have started to define too many late-game conversations across college football.
For BYU fans, the aggravation is only sharpened by how these decisions can tilt a game at the exact point when every snap matters most. Davis cited specific breakdowns, including an incorrect 10-second runoff and a roughing-the-kicker call that stirred debate in a double-overtime game, while a separate Week 1 controversy in the Big Ten involving Western Michigan and Michigan showed the problem is hardly confined to one league. The bigger concern now is not just the individual miss, but how often the sport seems to be asking fans and teams to live with them. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Suddenly Faces A Bigger Question After UCF Stunner
The shock of UCFs double-overtime upset over No. 2 BYU left the Cougars with more than just a blemish on the record. It also turned attention to how quickly a ranked team has to reset after a game that demanded everything, especially with UCF quarterback Keyone Jenkins central to the win and now confirmed to keep the job heading into the next week.
For BYU, the bigger question is what comes next in a Big 12 race that can flip fast, and Baylor is waiting with its own uncertainty after firing Dave Aranda and turning to Joe Klanderman as interim head coach. Scott Frost and his players talked afterward about sustaining the same edge that carried them through the upset, but the Cougars will be trying to answer for a loss that changes the conversation around them almost immediately. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Suddenly Faces A Secondary Test It Cant Afford To Fail
BYUs defense is about to get another look at its depth in the secondary, with cornerback Evan Johnson expected to sit out the upcoming game against Arizona State after getting hurt against UCF. Kalani Sitake said the injury is not season-ending, but the Cougars are planning as if Johnson will miss this week, which puts more pressure on a unit that has already had to adjust on the fly.
Arizona State brings its own uncertainty at quarterback, with Mikey Keene listed as questionable because of a leg injury. If Keene cannot go, freshman Jake Fette is expected to get the start, adding another layer of unpredictability to a matchup that already has plenty of moving parts for BYU to sort through on the back end. [Read more 🡒]