OT: Dave Aranda -- Baylor

[BadgerPete]

Talk about a fall from grace....

Aranda has been off my radar screen since MR was hired and his name has not come up on any of the major college coach vacancies. I see why.

"In 2021, Aranda led the Bears to their best season in school history. The Bears were ranked in the top 25 for the majority of the 2021 football season and finished with a 12–2 record (7–2 in Big 12 play), the most wins in program history. In the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game, Aranda and the Bears beat Oklahoma State 21–16 on an iconic goal line stand to win Baylor's 3rd Big 12 football championship. The season ended with a historic Sugar Bowl win where they beat Ole Miss 21-7. Aranda won the AP Big 12 Coach of the Year (2021), the Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards program's Big 12 Coach of the Year, and was the first Baylor football coach to win the George Munger Award. Aranda was also a finalist for many other national awards, including the 2021 Eddie Robinson Award, Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award,] Associated Press College Football Coach of the Year Award, and Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for National Coach of the Year."

Since 2021:

2021	Baylor	12–2	7–2	1st	W Sugar†
2022	Baylor	6–7	4–5	T–5th	L Armed Forces
2023	Baylor	3–9	2–7	T–11th
2024	Baylor	8–5	6–3	T–5th	L Texas
2025	Baylor	5–4	3–3

Baylor plays their remaining three games as U-Dogs against Utah, Arizona, and Houston. He has a contract through 2029, due to an extension in 2021. If they win one more, that would be 4 bowl games in 5 years. But he could al;so have 3 losing seasons in 5 years as well.

Coaching carousel continues......

 

[BugsAreQualityProtein]

Baylor is a small fish in a big pond in the NIL era.

 

[redwine65]

listening to aranda talk is like listen to john frame talk about greeks.
I think they have money for nil
I did'nt know kevin steele was their hc for awhile

 

[Nuts McClanahan]

Talk about a fall from grace....

Aranda has been off my radar screen since MR was hired and his name has not come up on any of the major college coach vacancies. I see why.

"In 2021, Aranda led the Bears to their best season in school history. The Bears were ranked in the top 25 for the majority of the 2021 football season and finished with a 12–2 record (7–2 in Big 12 play), the most wins in program history. In the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game, Aranda and the Bears beat Oklahoma State 21–16 on an iconic goal line stand to win Baylor's 3rd Big 12 football championship. The season ended with a historic Sugar Bowl win where they beat Ole Miss 21-7. Aranda won the AP Big 12 Coach of the Year (2021), the Paul “Bear” Bryant Awards program's Big 12 Coach of the Year, and was the first Baylor football coach to win the George Munger Award. Aranda was also a finalist for many other national awards, including the 2021 Eddie Robinson Award, Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award,] Associated Press College Football Coach of the Year Award, and Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for National Coach of the Year."

Since 2021:

2021	Baylor	12–2	7–2	1st	W Sugar†
2022	Baylor	6–7	4–5	T–5th	L Armed Forces
2023	Baylor	3–9	2–7	T–11th
2024	Baylor	8–5	6–3	T–5th	L Texas
2025	Baylor	5–4	3–3

Baylor plays their remaining three games as U-Dogs against Utah, Arizona, and Houston. He has a contract through 2029, due to an extension in 2021. If they win one more, that would be 4 bowl games in 5 years. But he could al;so have 3 losing seasons in 5 years as well.

Coaching carousel continues......

The truth is Aranda is as good of a coach as he always was. He was overrated back in 2021 when he was a hot name. That's 85% of all football hires anyway- recent success is valued over all else.

I'm waiting for the day when some ballsy AD at a big name school hires a new coach who has a .500ish win/loss record and says this guy was hired because he is a better football coach than those other guys who had a good season last year.

 

[thall___]

I'm waiting for the day when some ballsy AD at a big name school hires a new coach who has a .500ish win/loss record and says this guy was hired because he is a better football coach than those other guys who had a good season last year.

Saw that happen, his name was Eichorst and his hire was named Mike something

 

[Nuts McClanahan]

Saw that happen, his name was Eichorst and his hire was named Mike something

I liked your post, but I'm calling ******** on that one. That was not a ballsy hire by Eichorst. It was clueless, but not ballsy. And Riley probably had too good of a resume for what I'm thinking of. And no, we weren't impressed with Riley's resume but it was more due to him being a horrible fit.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Saw that happen, his name was Eichorst and his hire was named Mike something

This is so spot on!

Remember fans being like "Wow, once Riley (who they had to google) gets to NU just think what he will do with the resources!"

Like, at Oregon State they were working on a ******* Bow-Flex.

 

[tmcats]

it's interesting that within the texas christian triangle - baylor, smu, tcu - the ponies have come out the clear coaching winner. all have lots of money. lashlee just signed an extension. the other two, well, their fans would rather they get lost. dykes made a fool's choice moving from dallas to ft. worth.

 

[thall___]

I liked your post, but I'm calling ******** on that one. That was not a ballsy hire by Eichorst. It was clueless, but not ballsy. And Riley probably had too good of a resume for what I'm thinking of. And no, we weren't impressed with Riley's resume but it was more due to him being a horrible fit.

Therein lies the point

 

[broken record]

The truth is Aranda is as good of a coach as he always was. He was overrated back in 2021 when he was a hot name. That's 85% of all football hires anyway- recent success is valued over all else.

I'm waiting for the day when some ballsy AD at a big name school hires a new coach who has a .500ish win/loss record and says this guy was hired because he is a better football coach than those other guys who had a good season last year.

Correct. People see a team that was bad one season suddenly have a good season and think the coach is great. They don't se that the fired coach may well have put the groundwork in place to make the current coach look good. You need a few seasons to get a full measure of a coach which will show up in coaching hires, player recruiting, player development, etc.

 

[mgbreeze]

This is so spot on!

Remember fans being like "Wow, once Riley (who they had to google) gets to NU just think what he will do with the resources!"

Like, at Oregon State they were working on a ******* Bow-Flex.

I definitely didn't have to google him. I remember the moment like it was yesterday, I was working in the garage and my wife stuck her head in the door and said "Nebraska hired Mike Riley!" I sat there in stunned silence for a moment and eventually said.... "Mike FVKCING Riley? Are you svhitting me?" And the rest is history.

 

[Nuts McClanahan]

Correct. People see a team that was bad one season suddenly have a good season and think the coach is great. They don't se that the fired coach may well have put the groundwork in place to make the current coach look good. You need a few seasons to get a full measure of a coach which will show up in coaching hires, player recruiting, player development, etc.

This happens pretty often at the HS level. A team is ready to break out. Good talent coming up. Fire the current coach now before its too late and the AD can look smart when all of those returning players play well for the new hire.

 

[Arf_man]

I knew who Riley was very well. He would have had more success here if he had some balls and told the lawyer to mind his own business and did things the way he did at Oregon State. For that reason he should be chastised for eternity in college football lore. Nice guy though.

 

[Truewooper]

I knew who Riley was very well. He would have had more success here if he had some balls and told the lawyer to mind his own business and did things the way he did at Oregon State. For that reason he should be chastised for eternity in college football lore. Nice guy though.

Correct firing his DC and then "choosing" the crazy man as DC was awful. Shouldn't stuck to his guns. Also if Tre Bryant doesn't have "old man knees." I think he could have gotten through 2017.

 

[HuskerO58]

Correct firing his DC and then "choosing" the crazy man as DC was awful. Shouldn't stuck to his guns. Also if Tre Bryant doesn't have "old man knees." I think he could have gotten through 2017.

The tragic death of Sam Foltz didn't help.

Also, has there been a coach who had to walk into a more toxic environment? Over half that team was pissed their previous coach got fired. No one can convince me their attitudes (justified or not) didnt have some sort of negative affect (or is effect??) going into the following season.

 

[inWV]

Correct firing his DC and then "choosing" the crazy man as DC was awful. Shouldn't stuck to his guns. Also if Tre Bryant doesn't have "old man knees." I think he could have gotten through 2017.

Riley signed his NU coaching death warrant by firing Banker and hiring Diaco. There was a decent chance of fielding a competent 4-3 and it would have been Banker's third year with that unit. Stoltenberg and the Davis twins, plus Deontre Thomas and Damion Daniels were available on the inside, Freedom and Ben Stille at DE. Sed King and Alex Davis were never going to work at DE, but could have been serviceable backups at DE. Mo Barry, Marcus Newby and Luke Gifford were available at LB.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Riley signed his NU coaching death warrant by firing Banker and hiring Diaco. There was a decent chance of fielding a competent 4-3 and it would have been Banker's third year with that unit. Stoltenberg and the Davis twins, plus Deontre Thomas and Damion Daniels were available on the inside, Freedom and Ben Stille at DE. Sed King and Alex Davis were never going to work at DE, but could have been serviceable backups at DE. Mo Barry, Marcus Newby and Luke Gifford were available at LB.

I know people love to rip on Banker and his first year sucked here but his second year the run D was solid.

 

[Bigred2467]

I know people love to rip on Banker and his first year sucked here but his second year the run D was solid.

Eichorst didn't think so.

 

[dinglefritz]

I liked your post, but I'm calling ******** on that one. That was not a ballsy hire by Eichorst. It was clueless, but not ballsy. And Riley probably had too good of a resume for what I'm thinking of. And no, we weren't impressed with Riley's resume but it was more due to him being a horrible fit.

One has to wonder though how many other agents said their guy wasn’t interested before they landed on giving Riley a golden parachute.

 

[dinglefritz]

I definitely didn't have to google him. I remember the moment like it was yesterday, I was working in the garage and my wife stuck her head in the door and said "Nebraska hired Mike Riley!" I sat there in stunned silence for a moment and eventually said.... "Mike FVKCING Riley? Are you svhitting me?" And the rest is history.

Well I gave him a chance. Very knowledgeable coach but Mr Rogers doesn’t motivate people to go out and kick ***.

 

[dinglefritz]

Riley signed his NU coaching death warrant by firing Banker and hiring Diaco. There was a decent chance of fielding a competent 4-3 and it would have been Banker's third year with that unit. Stoltenberg and the Davis twins, plus Deontre Thomas and Damion Daniels were available on the inside, Freedom and Ben Stille at DE. Sed King and Alex Davis were never going to work at DE, but could have been serviceable backups at DE. Mo Barry, Marcus Newby and Luke Gifford were available at LB.

Davis twins were DUDES.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Eichorst didn't think so.

How that guy keeps failing up is amazing.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

One has to wonder though how many other agents said their guy wasn’t interested before they landed on giving Riley a golden parachute.

So many of our stupid fans were/still are scared of Bo that they were clearly going to go in such an opposite direction and they did, With that said, I liked Mike, he is a really nice guy but I think it proved that he was not a .500 career coach because of the limited **** at Oregon State...he was a .500 coach because like most coaches, they have a hard time winning 9-10 games a year.

 

[inWV]

Davis twins were DUDES.

Both have had journeyman careers on NFL rosters and practice squads, plus the USFL. It was a real shame moving to a 3-4, as both of those guys would have been solid B1G DTs in a 4-3.

 

[Truewooper]

The tragic death of Sam Foltz didn't help.

Also, has there been a coach who had to walk into a more toxic environment? Over half that team was pissed their previous coach got fired. No one can convince me their attitudes (justified or not) didnt have some sort of negative affect (or is effect??) going into the following season.

Correct and Alex Lewis doing that confirmed that.

 

[Truewooper]

Riley signed his NU coaching death warrant by firing Banker and hiring Diaco. There was a decent chance of fielding a competent 4-3 and it would have been Banker's third year with that unit. Stoltenberg and the Davis twins, plus Deontre Thomas and Damion Daniels were available on the inside, Freedom and Ben Stille at DE. Sed King and Alex Davis were never going to work at DE, but could have been serviceable backups at DE. Mo Barry, Marcus Newby and Luke Gifford were available at LB.

Correct the defense was the best unit in 2016.

 

[Truewooper]

I know people love to rip on Banker and his first year sucked here but his second year the run D was solid.

Actually if I remember right his run D was great both years. His pass defense was ranked second worse in the country in 2015. Again if memory serves.

 

[inWV]

Actually if I remember right his run D was great both years. His pass defense was ranked second worse in the country in 2015. Again if memory serves.

He was basically breaking in new DBs. That was the first year Chris Jones and Josh Kalu really played.

 

[InMotion]

I definitely didn't have to google him. I remember the moment like it was yesterday, I was working in the garage and my wife stuck her head in the door and said "Nebraska hired Mike Riley!" I sat there in stunned silence for a moment and eventually said.... "Mike FVKCING Riley? Are you svhitting me?" And the rest is history.

Ill never forget that day either. I was working at a rendering plant, installing a control system on a machine. My Dad calls and when I said hello. All my Dad said was "Mike Fvking Riley".. I said Who TF is that.. Thats who Nebraska just hired... I was like WTF.. and yeah, the rest is history. Resources.. lol.

 

[salsa red]

Both have had journeyman careers on NFL rosters and practice squads, plus the USFL. It was a real shame moving to a 3-4, as both of those guys would have been solid B1G DTs in a 4-3.

I think Malik Collins is still playing

 

[inWV]

I think Malik Collins is still playing

I'm looking at that 2015 depth chart and Pelini would have won another nine games. Hell, he might have been 10-2 with the 2015 schedule NU had. So if the intention from Harvey P. was that Pelini be canned with extreme prejudice, Eichorst couldn't wait a season.

 

[BloodMoonRed]

Eichorst didn't think so.

Eichorst also fired Bo and said it was because (paraphrasing) we’re not aiming to be competitive with Iowa and the program wasn’t where he wanted it. Bo was 3-1 against Iowa. We’ve only beat Iowa once since.

 

[Truewooper]

He was basically breaking in new DBs. That was the first year Chris Jones and Josh Kalu really played.

That's true! And we were moving away from Bo's match defense/peso.

 

[Truewooper]

I'm looking at that 2015 depth chart and Pelini would have won another nine games. Hell, he might have been 10-2 with the 2015 schedule NU had. So if the intention from Harvey P. was that Pelini be canned with extreme prejudice, Eichorst couldn't wait a season.

Very true his defense had DT issues for the last couple of years 2015 could've been electric. We also had to replace Ameer. I think Terrell would have been serviceable in our heavy zone-read game.

 

[mgbreeze]

Ill never forget that day either. I was working at a rendering plant, installing a control system on a machine. My Dad calls and when I said hello. All my Dad said was "Mike Fvking Riley".. I said Who TF is that.. Thats who Nebraska just hired... I was like WTF.. and yeah, the rest is history. Resources.. lol.

Fitting you were at a rendering plant since Nebraska football was on its way to being a rotten corpse!

 

[inWV]

Very true his defense had DT issues for the last couple of years 2015 could've been electric. We also had to replace Ameer. I think Terrell would have been serviceable in our heavy zone-read game.

Imani was still on the roster, as well as Janovich and Wilbon. Zig may have gone elsewhere.

 

[Truewooper]

Imani was still on the roster, as well as Janovich and Wilbon. Zig may have gone elsewhere.

That's very true.

 

[inWV]

That's very true.

That running back room was good, not great, and Tommy had those guys in addition to Westy, Reilly, Alonzo Moore and Cethan Carter. Stanley Morgan was also recruited by Pelini and would have been on the roster.

 

[Truewooper]

That running back room was good, not great, and Tommy had those guys in addition to Westy, Reilly, Alonzo Moore and Cethan Carter. Stanley Morgan was also recruited by Pelini and would have been on the roster.

Well this is also why you don't fire a 9 win coach lol. Cause 2015 might have been a crazy good year 15 and 16 actually. But yes rb room might have been the weakness on that offense in a good way. Cause we were loaded on the wr front lol.

 

[Vanhusker]

Eichorst also fired Bo and said it was because (paraphrasing) we’re not aiming to be competitive with Iowa and the program wasn’t where he wanted it. Bo was 3-1 against Iowa. We’ve only beat Iowa once since.

With an interim coach FFS