College football, particularly at the major conference level, is a pretty insular profession. Most guys in coaching know most of the other guys, and coaches tend to cycle around and hire guys they know or have worked with before.
That being said, here are a few programs in 2025 that should look familiar to those of us who have been following Baylor the last decade-plus:
BYU - Gerry Bohannon is amazingly in his eighth (!!!) year of eligibility, after redshirting for USF in 2023 and only registering a snap in one game last year for BYU. God bless him.
Florida - DJ Lagway, son of Baylor FB Derek Lagway, returns as Florida's starting QB. He had a promising freshman season, but has some injury concerns with his throwing arm, and sat out spring practice with a shoulder injury.
Tennessee - Although Josh Heupel's staff has no ties to Baylor, Heupel is the architect of their offense, and runs the Inverted Veer & Shoot, which is going to look familiar to Baylor fans, as it's the offense Art Briles ran at Baylor. If you want to see how that offense would look in today's game, watch "the real UT," as they call it in the area of the country where I live.
Virginia Tech - Phil Montgomery (former Baylor OC under Briles) is the OC after the conclusion of his time as Tulsa's HC. Additionally, Kyron Drones, former Baylor QB under Aranda (2021-22) is their incumbent starting QB, and is looking to bounce back after an injury-filled and disappointing 2024 season.
Syracuse - Fran Brown (former Assistant Head Coach and DBs coach under Matt Rhule) enters his second season as the Syracuse HC, and is joined at OC by Jeff Nixon, who was much-maligned in his stint as Baylor OC under Rhule.
Texas A&M - Not as much coaching overlap here as others on this list, but Jacob Zeno inexplicably has some eligibility left, and will serve as backup QB in his 7th season in college, after starting his career in 2019 at Baylor. He played 3 seasons in Waco, then transferred to UAB, where he played 3 more. He had his best season in 2023, but likely won't start in College Station unless starter Marcel Reed gets injured or underperforms. One-time Baylor commit Taurean York returns at LB as aggy's leading tackler (albeit, on an underperforming defense).
Mississippi State - Jeff Lebby (RB/Passing Game Coordinator under Briles) returns for his second year as HC at MSU. Cliff Odom, a 4-year letter winner and team captain at Baylor as a player (2008-11) returns as special teams coordinator, as well.
Nebraska - An obvious choice as Matt Rhule enters his third year as HC there after leaving Baylor and flaming out with the NFL's Carolina Panthers. He's reunited this year with Yoda, Phil Snow (DC under Rhule), who is serving as Associate Head Coach, but will not be calling defensive plays.
Texas Tech - Joey McGuire (former AHC under Rhule) enters his fourth season as the head man in Lubbock, and has several former Baylor coaches/support staff around him, including son, Garrett (backup QB/holder at Baylor under Rhule) as RB coach, GA Cole Maxwell (utility DL under Rhule), GA Jackson Kimble (OL under Rhule and Aranda and a student assistant under Aranda), Director of Player Personnel Brian Nance (DL under Briles, Grobe, and Rhule, and Assistant Director of Player Operations under Rhule and Aranda), and, most importantly, bag man James Blanchard, who formerly posted on this site (and SicEm365 predecessor BearsTruth) and is now entrenched as one of the highest-paid GMs in the sport on one of the highest-paid rosters in the sport. The pressure is on for Tech to get the results that have eluded them for their entire history as a D1 football program.
TCU - The most obvious answer of this bunch, they're doing their damnedest to recreate the Briles-era Baylor program in Ft. Worth. Sonny Dykes, from the Hal Mumme/Mike Leach coaching tree (same as Briles) returns for his fifth season as TCU HC. He's joined on the coaching staff by Kendal Briles (WR/OC under Art Briles) at OC, Brian Norwood (DC under Briles) at Safeties Coach, Randy Clements (OL/Co-OC under Briles) at OL Coach, Kaz Kazadi (S&C Coach under Briles) in the same role there, Corey Coleman (standout WR under Briles) as WR Coach.
That being said, here are a few programs in 2025 that should look familiar to those of us who have been following Baylor the last decade-plus:
BYU - Gerry Bohannon is amazingly in his eighth (!!!) year of eligibility, after redshirting for USF in 2023 and only registering a snap in one game last year for BYU. God bless him.
Florida - DJ Lagway, son of Baylor FB Derek Lagway, returns as Florida's starting QB. He had a promising freshman season, but has some injury concerns with his throwing arm, and sat out spring practice with a shoulder injury.
Tennessee - Although Josh Heupel's staff has no ties to Baylor, Heupel is the architect of their offense, and runs the Inverted Veer & Shoot, which is going to look familiar to Baylor fans, as it's the offense Art Briles ran at Baylor. If you want to see how that offense would look in today's game, watch "the real UT," as they call it in the area of the country where I live.
Virginia Tech - Phil Montgomery (former Baylor OC under Briles) is the OC after the conclusion of his time as Tulsa's HC. Additionally, Kyron Drones, former Baylor QB under Aranda (2021-22) is their incumbent starting QB, and is looking to bounce back after an injury-filled and disappointing 2024 season.
Syracuse - Fran Brown (former Assistant Head Coach and DBs coach under Matt Rhule) enters his second season as the Syracuse HC, and is joined at OC by Jeff Nixon, who was much-maligned in his stint as Baylor OC under Rhule.
Texas A&M - Not as much coaching overlap here as others on this list, but Jacob Zeno inexplicably has some eligibility left, and will serve as backup QB in his 7th season in college, after starting his career in 2019 at Baylor. He played 3 seasons in Waco, then transferred to UAB, where he played 3 more. He had his best season in 2023, but likely won't start in College Station unless starter Marcel Reed gets injured or underperforms. One-time Baylor commit Taurean York returns at LB as aggy's leading tackler (albeit, on an underperforming defense).
Mississippi State - Jeff Lebby (RB/Passing Game Coordinator under Briles) returns for his second year as HC at MSU. Cliff Odom, a 4-year letter winner and team captain at Baylor as a player (2008-11) returns as special teams coordinator, as well.
Nebraska - An obvious choice as Matt Rhule enters his third year as HC there after leaving Baylor and flaming out with the NFL's Carolina Panthers. He's reunited this year with Yoda, Phil Snow (DC under Rhule), who is serving as Associate Head Coach, but will not be calling defensive plays.
Texas Tech - Joey McGuire (former AHC under Rhule) enters his fourth season as the head man in Lubbock, and has several former Baylor coaches/support staff around him, including son, Garrett (backup QB/holder at Baylor under Rhule) as RB coach, GA Cole Maxwell (utility DL under Rhule), GA Jackson Kimble (OL under Rhule and Aranda and a student assistant under Aranda), Director of Player Personnel Brian Nance (DL under Briles, Grobe, and Rhule, and Assistant Director of Player Operations under Rhule and Aranda), and, most importantly, bag man James Blanchard, who formerly posted on this site (and SicEm365 predecessor BearsTruth) and is now entrenched as one of the highest-paid GMs in the sport on one of the highest-paid rosters in the sport. The pressure is on for Tech to get the results that have eluded them for their entire history as a D1 football program.
TCU - The most obvious answer of this bunch, they're doing their damnedest to recreate the Briles-era Baylor program in Ft. Worth. Sonny Dykes, from the Hal Mumme/Mike Leach coaching tree (same as Briles) returns for his fifth season as TCU HC. He's joined on the coaching staff by Kendal Briles (WR/OC under Art Briles) at OC, Brian Norwood (DC under Briles) at Safeties Coach, Randy Clements (OL/Co-OC under Briles) at OL Coach, Kaz Kazadi (S&C Coach under Briles) in the same role there, Corey Coleman (standout WR under Briles) as WR Coach.