Baylor moved on from Dave Aranda on Sunday morning, ending a seven-year run that never fully got off the ground after Saturday’s loss to Kansas.
The firing came one day after the Bears dropped a game they badly needed, a defeat that pushed Baylor to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play. That result all but knocked the team out of the College Football Playoff conversation and proved to be the last straw for a coach who had spent years hanging on by the narrowest of margins.
Baylor defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season.
The numbers tell the story of Aranda’s time in Waco. After Saturday, he leaves with a 40-40 record, a perfectly even mark that mirrors a tenure defined more by near-misses than momentum. The exception came in 2021, when Baylor went 12-2 and reached the Sugar Bowl, but the program never managed to turn that high point into lasting traction.
Aranda’s exit also comes in the middle of wider change around college football. Maryland moved on from Mike Locksley earlier in the week, and NC State fired Dave Doeren after a bad loss to Stanford on Saturday. Baylor’s decision adds another major opening to a coaching market that is already starting to heat up.
For Aranda, a new job might not take long to surface. He built the 2019 LSU defense and played a major role in one of the most dominant seasons in college football history, a résumé that could keep him in demand even if his next stop is not as a head coach at this level.
What Baylor does next will matter. The school is heading into a search that could shape its standing in the Big 12, especially as programs across Texas, from the Longhorns to Texas A&M and SMU, have embraced the new spending era in college football. With resources available, Baylor could try to make a splash of its own.
The bigger hope for Baylor, NC State, and Maryland is that the rest of this coaching cycle stays manageable. If the biggest jobs start opening up, the pool of candidates could shrink fast. If not, just being a Power 4 school may be enough to give each program a real shot at landing the right fit.
In Other News...
Texas Tech Just Got Caught In A Brutal Big 12 Shakeup
Saturdays Big 12 results tightened the picture around Texas Tech in a hurry. BYU and the Red Raiders both took losses, a rough turn for two teams trying to stay in the mix as the conference race and the College Football Playoff conversation start to sharpen.
Utahs win over Houston only added to the pressure, giving the Utes a boost in both the league standings and the national picture while the pecking order around them shifts. With Arizona coming to Lubbock next and BYU heading to Utah, the next round of games could say a lot about where Texas Tech fits in a suddenly crowded race. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Defense Has A Portal Problem Fans Cant Ignore
Texas Techs 6-1 start has kept the Red Raiders in the Big 12 race, but the shine around this years team has not quite matched the buzz from 2025. The offense has still given them a chance most weeks, yet the defense has looked more ordinary than fans expected after last seasons breakout stretch, and that has made the conversation around the transfer portal hard to avoid.
A year ago, several portal additions quickly became key pieces for the defense, raising the standard for what the roster could look like after a strong offseason haul. This fall, Adam Trick, Trey White and Mateen Ibirogba have been part of the plan, but through seven games they have not produced at the same level as the departures they were brought in to replace, leaving Texas Tech with a reminder that portal success is never guaranteed. [Read more 🡒]