I am not an Aranda fan. And while I don't ascribe to hating, I do think Aranda is just as at fault (if not more so) than Steele. Steele took a bad program and made it worse. Aranda went one step further by taking a very solid program and running it into the ground.

And you're right. If Baylor manages to win 7 games next year, I'll be surprised. If that happens, I and many others won't be crediting Aranda-not after what has transpired the last 2 years.

Guitarbiscuit said:

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I do think Aranda is just as at fault (if not more so) than Steele.

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Bro

PartyBear said:

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Ther have been people belittling the off season developments which have all been very good. But spinning negatively our signees, transfers and new staff members. Yes there are people here invested in him failing just so they can crow on this site about being right. It is bizarre the people obviously with no memory or who are just ignorant who compare where we are now with the Steele era or Morriss' final year and seem to delight in erroneously thinking now is like then.

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Last year's season was Morriss-esque. There's legitimate reason for significant criticism.

I agree this offseason gives some reason for hope, but the last two seasons have shortened the leash and lowered the expectations to the point that few have the desire or energy to buy into what could be a disastrous lame duck season.

The burden of proof is on Aranda and Co. at this point. I'm rooting for him to succeed, but we're well past the "tell me" stage and have long since crossed into "show me" territory. It's win or go away time, and anything less than six or seven wins will quite appropriately and justifiably be met with anger and frustration.

That's what happens when you take a championship level program and drop to the bottom of a mediocre conference in three years.

His seat is hot, but still likely has 2 more seasons to prove himself, unless 2024 looks as bad as 2023.

I wish Aranda would succeed. However, his interviews often focus on sports psychology and general philosophy. He is simply at a stage of personal growth that doesn't comprehend what is staring him in the face: football is about being a physical and mental badass… it has nothing to do with Paddington Bear, hats and pyschobabble.

Also, the AD and school screwed him by not getting on the NIL bandwagon earlier.

If these things are behind him, we have hope the team will approve.

Please do not compare CDA to CSD. Drew appreciates good moral character, but he is a basketball purist, it a philosophy geek.

TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Well Baylor people aren't wanting him to fail first of all. They just think he's a terrible headcoach and don't expect him to succeed.

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He has had some success. Made some bad decision on Coordinators in my opinion, but he did win the Sugar Bowl and B12 within the last 5 years. He should be on the hotseat, but whether or not he can succeed is 6 of one and a half dozen of the other.

I think anyone here who has had a professional job for more than a few years has probably worked with people who were really nice but simply weren't cut out for their job. That's how I view Dave. I speculate that in the pre-NIL/transfer portal world, he might have been a better choice for our program, but he wasn't the right choice in a world where the sport was quickly becoming semi-pro. Shuffling coordinators and infusing a bit more money into NIL might bring some short term success, but big picture I'm not so sure. We know that our old set of position coaches and coordinators were able to win big with the previous coach's players, so there's already evidence that coordinators are not the common denominator here

Daveisabovereproach said:

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I think anyone here who has had a professional job for more than a few years has probably worked with people who were really nice but simply weren't cut out for their job. That's how I view Dave. I speculate that in the pre-NIL/transfer portal world, he might have been a better choice for our program, but he wasn't the right choice in a world where the sport was quickly becoming semi-pro. Shuffling coordinators and infusing a bit more money into NIL might bring some short term success, but big picture I'm not so sure. We know that our old set of position coaches and coordinators were able to win big with the previous coach's players, so there's already evidence that coordinators are not the common denominator here

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Serious question, Mac set the "all sports, all athlete get the same" NIL policy. After last year my understanding is that changed.

Under the new policy, how is the talent that Dave is bringing in this offseason?? I can't tell, you read these stories and you would think they were all Parade All-Americans (dating myself) that now want Baylor. But does anyone have a real estimation?? Has the talent upgraded this year?

FLBear5630 said:

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Daveisabovereproach said:

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I think anyone here who has had a professional job for more than a few years has probably worked with people who were really nice but simply weren't cut out for their job. That's how I view Dave. I speculate that in the pre-NIL/transfer portal world, he might have been a better choice for our program, but he wasn't the right choice in a world where the sport was quickly becoming semi-pro. Shuffling coordinators and infusing a bit more money into NIL might bring some short term success, but big picture I'm not so sure. We know that our old set of position coaches and coordinators were able to win big with the previous coach's players, so there's already evidence that coordinators are not the common denominator here

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Serious question, Mac set the "all sports, all athlete get the same" NIL policy. After last year my understanding is that changed.

Under the new policy, how is the talent that Dave is bringing in this offseason?? I can't tell, you read these stories and you would think they were all Parade All-Americans (dating myself) that now want Baylor. But does anyone have a real estimation?? Has the talent upgraded this year?

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There's definitely a talent upgrade. I think it would be dishonest to say otherwise. In the pre-NIL and transfer portal era, you could get away with having some deadweight on your team, but it doesn't work nowadays. You gotta keep things lean and mean. I like that Spavital has a clear offensive system, and I can tell that we are trying to find specific types of players on offense for that system. Defense causes me more concern. Powledge is not a good defensive coordinator, and we don't seem to have a true philosophy.

TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Well Baylor people aren't wanting him to fail first of all.

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Yes, they are. If they actually do succeed, many on here will make sure that it's because of someone else. People hate Aranda more than Steele around here.

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I'll clarify a few points for you - they think he's a bad coach with a top ceiling of mediocrity. They think the program will be better off long term with a different HC. They think winning 5 or 6 games next year doesn't mean much in terms of long term success and will only prolong our suffering.

Given all of the above they fully expect him to fail long term. But if CDA somehow turned this program into a conference champ contender next year they certainly would be glad. I'd suspect 99% would be glad if we are a convincingly improved program with meaningful wins in excess of 6. Whereas the frequently pronounced "let's keep him at 6 wins" really doesn't indicate much improvement in the new B12 and shouldn't be a basis for keeping him.

In short, they expect him to fail, would rather cut bait than linger, and will be happy with him turning the program around quickly.

What they don't want is an additional 2-5 years of mediocrity before getting rid of him.

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This. It's not a hard concept to understand. But a lot of idiots on this board and especially the paid board can't grasp this basic concept. So odd to me.

JP1037 said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Well Baylor people aren't wanting him to fail first of all.

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Yes, they are. If they actually do succeed, many on here will make sure that it's because of someone else. People hate Aranda more than Steele around here.

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I'll clarify a few points for you - they think he's a bad coach with a top ceiling of mediocrity. They think the program will be better off long term with a different HC. They think winning 5 or 6 games next year doesn't mean much in terms of long term success and will only prolong our suffering.

Given all of the above they fully expect him to fail long term. But if CDA somehow turned this program into a conference champ contender next year they certainly would be glad. I'd suspect 99% would be glad if we are a convincingly improved program with meaningful wins in excess of 6. Whereas the frequently pronounced "let's keep him at 6 wins" really doesn't indicate much improvement in the new B12 and shouldn't be a basis for keeping him.

In short, they expect him to fail, would rather cut bait than linger, and will be happy with him turning the program around quickly.

What they don't want is an additional 2-5 years of mediocrity before getting rid of him.

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This. It's not a hard concept to understand. But a lot of idiots on this board and especially the paid board can't grasp this basic concept. So odd to me.

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I've been on Baylor message boards for about 15 years going back to Baylor fans and was a paid member of 247 and this site for a few years. What I've learned about Baylor fans is that if a coach at Baylor ever achieves any sort of success, there becomes an immediate and permanent cult following for that coach in a small but vocal subset of the fanbase such that the coach becomes completely above reproach no matter what he/she does. At that point, any comment about that coach that falls short of being enthusiastically positive is construed as being hate speech

Daveisabovereproach said:

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JP1037 said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Well Baylor people aren't wanting him to fail first of all.

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Yes, they are. If they actually do succeed, many on here will make sure that it's because of someone else. People hate Aranda more than Steele around here.

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I'll clarify a few points for you - they think he's a bad coach with a top ceiling of mediocrity. They think the program will be better off long term with a different HC. They think winning 5 or 6 games next year doesn't mean much in terms of long term success and will only prolong our suffering.

Given all of the above they fully expect him to fail long term. But if CDA somehow turned this program into a conference champ contender next year they certainly would be glad. I'd suspect 99% would be glad if we are a convincingly improved program with meaningful wins in excess of 6. Whereas the frequently pronounced "let's keep him at 6 wins" really doesn't indicate much improvement in the new B12 and shouldn't be a basis for keeping him.

In short, they expect him to fail, would rather cut bait than linger, and will be happy with him turning the program around quickly.

What they don't want is an additional 2-5 years of mediocrity before getting rid of him.

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This. It's not a hard concept to understand. But a lot of idiots on this board and especially the paid board can't grasp this basic concept. So odd to me.

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I've been on Baylor message boards for about 15 years going back to Baylor fans and was a paid member of 247 and this site for a few years. What I've learned about Baylor fans is that if a coach at Baylor ever achieves any sort of success, there becomes an immediate and permanent cult following for that coach in a small but vocal subset of the fanbase such that the coach becomes completely above reproach no matter what he/she does. At that point, any comment about that coach that falls short of being enthusiastically positive is construed as being hate speech

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You are dead-on. From there it turns into attack campaigns. All this based on either knowing someone inside, as if that person would tell real information for dispersal on a message board. Let's face it if they were getting more than Coach Speak and putting on a message board that source would shut down damn quick. Any inside information is the message Mac and the Athletic Dept WANT out there.

OR

They were once a coach way back when and their Bear Bryant-era knowledge allows for superior insight. (Even though things have changed so much in College Football active coaches are having trouble keeping up.

The bottomline is that in the last 10 years things have changed so much that having coached HS or even the NFL in 90's means little. Maybe the NFL guys BEFORE the salary cap might have some insight!

EvilTroyAndAbed said:

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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

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Well Baylor people aren't wanting him to fail first of all.

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Yes, they are. If they actually do succeed, many on here will make sure that it's because of someone else. People hate Aranda more than Steele around here.

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show your evidence

Yeah, nobody here wants him to fail.
Personally I hope he wins 12.
I do not have a lot of confidence in his coaching ability but I won't actively root against the team.