Report: Oregon Co-DC Matt Powledge 'a target' to become Baylor defensive coordinator

The Baylor defensive coordinator search could be heading toward the Pac-12. Oregon co-defensive coordinator Matt Powledge has “emerged as a target” for the job, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Wednesday.

Powledge arrived at Oregon prior to the 2022 season when Dan Lanning took over the program. Before that, though, he was the special teams coordinator at Baylor from 2020-21 under Dave Aranda and also worked with the safeties. Before that, he was the special teams coordinator at Louisiana from 2018-19.

With the Ducks, Powledge worked with the safeties while Tosh Lupoi worked with the linebackers. Together, they helped Oregon to the No. 5 scoring defense in the Pac-12, holding teams to 27.4 points per game in Lanning’s first year at the helm.

Baylor is working to replace Ron Roberts, who left the program earlier this month. The Bears’ season ended at the Armed Forces Bowl Dec. 22 with a 30-15 loss to Air Force. They finished the year with a 6-7 record, just one year after going 12-2 overall in 2021.

More on the end of Ron Roberts’ tenure with Baylor

Roberts had been with the Bears since head coach Dave Aranda took over the program before the 2020 season. He also served as the inside linebackers coach along with his coordinator duties. Being his first job at the Power Five level, Roberts will now be on the open market.

Baylor struggled defensively down the stretch, an unusual thing to say about an Aranda-led football team. Big 12 opponents ripped the Bears to shreds throughout the season, averaging just over 30 points per game.

Just a year prior, Baylor sported one of the top-scoring defenses in the country en route to a Big 12 Championship. Things regressed enough to where Aranda felt the need to make a change.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.