Report: Baylor hires Michigan State's Chris Kapilovic as new O-line coach

There’s a new coaching change that will bolster the Baylor ranks, as former Michigan State assistant Chris Kapilovic has been hired on the Bears’ staff, according to a report from The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.

Kapilovic had been serving as the Spartans’ offensive line coach and run coordinator for the past four seasons.

He’s set to take over as Baylor’s offensive line coach, according to Feldman. That job came available when Arkansas hired away Baylor offensive line coach Eric Mateos following the season.

Mateos had been in his post since January 2021.

So while there will be some loss of continuity, Baylor can look forward to adding a coach with considerable experience. Kapilovic has been coaching at the college level since 2001.

Kapilovic spent the past four seasons at Michigan State. Prior to that he spent one year at Colorado as the offensive line coach. He was in a variety of roles at North Carolina from 2012-2018. Before that he was at Southern Miss from 2008-09, Missouri State from 2006-07 and Alabama State from 2001-05.

Baylor offensive shakeup continues

Kapilovic’s hire was just the latest in pretty close to a full-scale offensive overhaul for the Baylor program under head coach Dave Aranda.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Baylor is hiring SMU Mustangs assistant Khenon Hall as their new running backs coach. Additionally, Hall will double as the Bears’ associate head coach, per Thamel.

Moreover, the news of Hall’s hiring comes after former Baylor running backs coach and assistant head coach AJ Steward was announced not to be returning to the Bears next season.

Additionally, the news regarding Steward came after it was revealed Baylor was making a significant change at offensive coordinator.

According to a recent report by David Smoak, the Bears are looking to add a little bit more pace to the offense by hiring Jakes Spavital as their next offensive coordinator.

Spavital brings with him some quality experience, especially at the Power-5 level. And that experience is not just centered on one league. Spavital was the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M from 2014-2015, spent 2016 in the same position at Cal, and the same goes for his 2017-2018 two years at West Virginia.

Spavital also has head coaching experience as he was the head coach for the Texas State Bobcats from 2019-2022 before returning to Cal in 2023 to assume their offensive coordinator and quarterback coach positions for a second time.