Why did Baylor decide to stick with Dave Aranda?

The more national media runs these stories the more egg is going to be on the admins faces when the new AD fires him. What a mess.

Wonder which PR firm arranged this. And how much they are being paid.

"Dave is a learner and he's a listener". Can't argue with that. There are many in the business world that are that. HE IS NOT A LEADER... this must accompany those two factors.

Thanks for sharing. All anger about current situation and politics aside, Livingstone is probably more tuned into this debacle than people are giving her credit for. She cares about sports, as I dont think you can be a former D1 athlete and not give a crap. But its up to the BOR to set priorities for Baylor and, based on what I've read it's pretty much the same old pearl-clutching farts who have been running the place since I was a student. Even if they decide to prioritize football, there is the dinero issue: We ain't got any.
Bottom line is the bottom line. Hence my recommendation to drop out of P4 football.

Baylorbears111 said:

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Why did Baylor decide to stick with Dave Aranda?

The more national media runs these stories the more egg is going to be on the admins faces when the new AD fires him. What a mess.

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It's a fair and well done article IMO. I would have like some more probing questions regarding the continual failure of DA. What is our status with donors? I would like to know what Linda defines as "success" in football. I was happy to see they have 20 million ready to throw around for us to find "success."

PaperBear89 said:

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Thanks for sharing. All anger about current situation and politics aside, Livingstone is probably more tuned into this debacle than people are giving her credit for. She cares about sports, as I dont think you can be a former D1 athlete and not give a crap. But its up to the BOR to set priorities for Baylor and, based on what I've read it's pretty much the same old pearl-clutching farts who have been running the place since I was a student. Even if they decide to prioritize football, there is the dinero issue: We ain't got any.
Bottom line is the bottom line. Hence my recommendation to drop out of P4 football.

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I think everyone in the conference, up to this point, not named Texas Tech is somewhat in the same boat regarding money. We are just in a worse boat right now because to move on to a new staff (that is assumed would do better.....but no guarantees) we have to pay out too much to just get rid of the staff we have. That seems to be where a lot of the money would be going.

edit....I should have said BYU as well, but I think most of the rest of us are in the same ball park.

edit 2.....I think from reading the article the other thing that should stand out is that there is no decision at this point to NOT keep Aranda after next year. That is going to be the decision of the new athletic director and it sounds like reading the article a lot of other things. Aranda may be labeled as a lame duck coach by the fans, but that is not set in stone, which is the way her original statement read all along. Fact is, we don't know what is being told to the recruits or the returning players concerning DA's status moving forward.

Not from the Babylon Bee, is it?

PaperBear89 said:

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Even if they decide to prioritize football, there is the dinero issue: We ain't got any.

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Agree. It's clear from that article that our problem is money.

The only way I see that changing in the short term is if we hire an AD that somehow gets the fanbase energized.

I doubt seriously we have a money issue in the broader sense. We have been building shiny new facilities like crazy. We may have a situation this particular year where we would have to buyout an AD, football staff, pay a new staff, new AD and players. That may be too much to do all at once this fiscal year. But I would guess that is about it.

Sounds like there is 12 million reasons they want to keep Aranda.
Hope it doesn't come back to bite them when the fans quit showing up due to poor
performance.

Livingstone's statement, while acknowledging disappointment in the current season's results, completely misrepresents the true anger of the Baylor fanbase, making it seem as though frustration is limited to a single year's performance.

In fact, the collective frustration stems from a six-year record that sits below 500, featuring a worrying lack of program consistency and the unacceptable failure to qualify for bowl games in half of Dave Aranda's tenure, proving that the 2021 Big 12 Championship was an anomaly, not the foundation.

We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.
Smoaky said as much the other day.

We do need to do a better job of engaging the 'younger' alums with money (45-55). Like Cody Campbell who played under Leach

But those were the students during the Roberts/Steele/Morris era and the Bliss debacle so I'm sure they're not attached to the athletic program.

I hope this article provides a mustard seed of faith, hope and encouragement to some folks here. Linda comes across as very clear-eyed about her own challenges and those of the broader landscape.

Her statement about new partnerships feels like potentially a big tell about our AD search:

Quote:

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"We have to really work with our donors to step up. We have to work with sponsorships, we have to work on companies that will walk beside us for NIL sponsorships," Livingstone said. "That's going to be a really big focus for a new athletic director. ... That's what many, many institutions are looking at right now. How do we supplement and grow financial support for athletics in a way that's different than we've done it in the past that doesn't put as much burden on our institutions?"

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I would not be surprised if our new AD is someone with a pro sports background with an emphasis on marketing, or someone with a background as an agent.

Baylor has a unique brand: a commitment to Christian heritage and spirituality as crucial to human flourishing; a great academic/educational reputation, especially within the medical, legal, and financial industries; a beautiful campus; a vibrant history...for the right person with the right vision, I think Baylor presents a tremendous opportunity to partner with organizations across a variety of industries/sectors.

Add-in that we have coaching staffs that have proven they can win on the biggest stages when they've got the right talent, and our skies should look pretty bright & clear to the right candidate...

Bearknuckle said:

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I hope this article provides a mustard seed of faith, hope and encouragement to some folks here. Linda comes across as very clear-eyed about her own challenges and those of the broader landscape.

Her statement about new partnerships feels like potentially a big tell about our AD search:

Quote:

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"We have to really work with our donors to step up. We have to work with sponsorships, we have to work on companies that will walk beside us for NIL sponsorships," Livingstone said. "That's going to be a really big focus for a new athletic director. ... That's what many, many institutions are looking at right now. How do we supplement and grow financial support for athletics in a way that's different than we've done it in the past that doesn't put as much burden on our institutions?"

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I would not be surprised if our new AD is someone with a pro sports background with an emphasis on marketing, or someone with a background as an agent.

Baylor has a unique brand: a commitment to Christian heritage and spirituality as crucial to human flourishing; a great academic/educational reputation, especially within the medical, legal, and financial industries; a beautiful campus; a vibrant history...for the right person with the right vision, I think Baylor presents a tremendous opportunity to partner with organizations across a variety of industries/sectors.

Add-in that we have coaching staffs that have proven they can win on the biggest stages when they've got the right talent, and our skies should look pretty bright & clear to the right candidate...

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Nico Harrison?

Stefano DiMera said:

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We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

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That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Bearknuckle said:

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I hope this article provides a mustard seed of faith, hope and encouragement to some folks here. Linda comes across as very clear-eyed about her own challenges and those of the broader landscape.

Her statement about new partnerships feels like potentially a big tell about our AD search:

Quote:

---

"We have to really work with our donors to step up. We have to work with sponsorships, we have to work on companies that will walk beside us for NIL sponsorships," Livingstone said. "That's going to be a really big focus for a new athletic director. ... That's what many, many institutions are looking at right now. How do we supplement and grow financial support for athletics in a way that's different than we've done it in the past that doesn't put as much burden on our institutions?"

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I would not be surprised if our new AD is someone with a pro sports background with an emphasis on marketing, or someone with a background as an agent.

Baylor has a unique brand: a commitment to Christian heritage and spirituality as crucial to human flourishing; a great academic/educational reputation, especially within the medical, legal, and financial industries; a beautiful campus; a vibrant history...for the right person with the right vision, I think Baylor presents a tremendous opportunity to partner with organizations across a variety of industries/sectors.

Add-in that we have coaching staffs that have proven they can win on the biggest stages when they've got the right talent, and our skies should look pretty bright & clear to the right candidate...

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Nico Harrison?

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Robert Wilson said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

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That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

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She said it before that.. in the statement she released saying Aranda was coming back.

'We' is not the school. The money for a buyout has to come from donors. We have enough donors that have money that could cover $12 mil.

It's if they WANT to .

Stefano DiMera said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

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That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

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She said it before that.. in the statement she released saying Aranda was coming back.

'We' is not the school. The money for a buyout has to come from donors. We have enough donors that have money that could cover $12 mil.

It's if they WANT to .

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Paying money to get your name on a building is one thing. Paying money to make some dudes go away and then pay others to replace them? (only to be forgotten when those coaches leave) That's a level of rich fandom we just don't have.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

---

That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

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She said it before that.. in the statement she released saying Aranda was coming back.

'We' is not the school. The money for a buyout has to come from donors. We have enough donors that have money that could cover $12 mil.

It's if they WANT to .

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Well, yeah, sure. I agree the money exists in our donor base if our donor base trusted us with it.

PaperBear89 said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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Robert Wilson said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

---

That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

---

She said it before that.. in the statement she released saying Aranda was coming back.

'We' is not the school. The money for a buyout has to come from donors. We have enough donors that have money that could cover $12 mil.

It's if they WANT to .

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Paying money to get your name on a building is one thing. Paying money to make some dudes go away and then pay others to replace them? (only to be forgotten when those coaches leave) That's a level of rich fandom we just don't have.

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We'd probably have it if our donors trusted our decision makers.

Robert Wilson said:

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PaperBear89 said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

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It's if they WANT to .

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Paying money to get your name on a building is one thing. Paying money to make some dudes go away and then pay others to replace them? (only to be forgotten when those coaches leave) That's a level of rich fandom we just don't have.

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We'd probably have it if our donors trusted our decision makers.

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I don't think it's completely hyperbolic to say this AD hire is one of the most important hiring processes in Baylor history.

Robert Wilson said:

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PaperBear89 said:

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Stefano DiMera said:

---

Robert Wilson said:

---

Stefano DiMera said:

---

We got money. Don't believe that lie.

It's why/where/if we want to spend it.

---

That's just another way of saying we don't have enough money.

Livingstone all but comes right out and says it herself in the article.

---

She said it before that.. in the statement she released saying Aranda was coming back.

'We' is not the school. The money for a buyout has to come from donors. We have enough donors that have money that could cover $12 mil.

It's if they WANT to .

---

Paying money to get your name on a building is one thing. Paying money to make some dudes go away and then pay others to replace them? (only to be forgotten when those coaches leave) That's a level of rich fandom we just don't have.

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We'd probably have it if our donors trusted our decision makers.

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Even then, I don't think so. As I've stated elsewhere, we have no real oil money among our alumni and our casual/regular donors (the nickels and dimes) just cant close the gap when we put 25% of our alumni into the workforce each year that the big publics do. Texas or A&M could just about buy out/rehire their football staff just using funds from their casual donors.
Used to be we could occasionally fight the good fight with decent coaching, a few good recruits, and pray that not too many of our rivals were paying players under the table. Now its all legal and the math just doesn't math.

PaperBear89 is correct. We don't have oil money, and we don't have Wall Street and tech/AI money. The donors who gave us McLane and Foster and Fudge are to be loudly commended for what they have done, but realistically, how much more can we ask of them? The guys who gave us McLane are gone because of the Briles debacle. I recently read that our one big oil donor, Bob Simpson, just gave a big check to........wait for it.....TCU.

I've worked in the oil business for 50 years and the immense wealth created in the past decade by the players in the Permian Basin is hard to fathom. Only a very tiny fraction of that money went to Baylor folks....it's UT, A&M, Tech and to a lesser degree, TCU and SMU.

Baylor turns out doctors, lawyers, preachers and folks in business. Those are fine professions, but the earning power of those professions pales in comparison to oil and Wall Street/tech/AI.

So, we will have to be smart, and lucky.

I like Aranda as a man and he'd make a great next door neighbor.....or ASSISTANT football coach. He doesn't have the head coach DNA.

It's going to be a tough next few years, and whoever said that this AD hire is incredibly important hit the nail on the head.

Why has Bu never offered a beefed up Petroleum Eng program? Doesn't seem to make much sense.

I will say while AI/Tech isn't there (only Tex and Rice that I know of have some presence here) there are some high finance guys Bu just hasn't tapped into. So I slightly disagree on that side.. although they are probably closer with their ivy/ivy lite grad school alum than Bu.

Nice catalog of business owners with success but unfortunately not many of them have scaled to 9 and 10 figures, or at least not that I've heard of.

blackie said:

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PaperBear89 said:

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Thanks for sharing. All anger about current situation and politics aside, Livingstone is probably more tuned into this debacle than people are giving her credit for. She cares about sports, as I dont think you can be a former D1 athlete and not give a crap. But its up to the BOR to set priorities for Baylor and, based on what I've read it's pretty much the same old pearl-clutching farts who have been running the place since I was a student. Even if they decide to prioritize football, there is the dinero issue: We ain't got any.
Bottom line is the bottom line. Hence my recommendation to drop out of P4 football.

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I think everyone in the conference, up to this point, not named Texas Tech is somewhat in the same boat regarding money. We are just in a worse boat right now because to move on to a new staff (that is assumed would do better.....but no guarantees) we have to pay out too much to just get rid of the staff we have. That seems to be where a lot of the money would be going.

edit....I should have said BYU as well, but I think most of the rest of us are in the same ball park.

edit 2.....I think from reading the article the other thing that should stand out is that there is no decision at this point to NOT keep Aranda after next year. That is going to be the decision of the new athletic director and it sounds like reading the article a lot of other things. Aranda may be labeled as a lame duck coach by the fans, but that is not set in stone, which is the way her original statement read all along. Fact is, we don't know what is being told to the recruits or the returning players concerning DA's status moving forward.

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Well, absolutely. You can't fire a coach a year in advance and have him just stick around until he is replaced.

Baylor, or at least the Prez and her closest advisors, absolutely wants Dave to succeed and continue to be Baylor's coach for years to come. They are betting on it, hoping by this time next year there would be the same sense of urgency to get a new coach.

They will hire and AD and his evaluation of football coaching likely begins next season, not the past. I mean maybe there is a 2 percent chance he my come in and insist they really need a coaching change. But timing wouldn't be great at that point. It may also be an understanding with his hiring that Dave will be the head coach in September of 2026.

That's my take, anyway.