This year's sacrificial coordinator lamb...

Matthew Powledge is leaving the Baylor football coaching staff and has not yet made a decision on his next destination, but has some options available. Powledge worked under Dave Aranda on two occasions, including special teams/safeties in 2020-21 at Baylor and came back after a…

— David Smoak (@DavidSmoak) December 9, 2025

I wish him luck.

IowaBear said:

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The amount of guys who've fallen on the sword for Dave is damm impressive. Every off season it's everyone but Dave's fault.
Cant wait for the day the cockroach finally gets squashed

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Assistant coaches don't have buyouts...

If Dave will not call defense next season they had to fire him to bring in a DC who will likely coach S. That was Powledge's spot.

Did I say they do?

JudgeBear1845 said:

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IowaBear said:

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The amount of guys who've fallen on the sword for Dave is damm impressive. Every off season it's everyone but Dave's fault.
Cant wait for the day the cockroach finally gets squashed

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Assistant coaches don't have buyouts...

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Seems like a rather odd reply. How does that fit in with what Iowa Bear said?

Our secondary/safeties weren't actually bad in pass coverage... It's the defensive line that was trash putting no pressure on the QB . I'd kill for two James Lynch's. That better be our portal target .

Now run coverage was pathetic by the safeties but I think that was coaching having them 12-15 yds off line of scrimmage.

Of course assistant coaches have buyouts.. if a guy has a 4yr contract and gets fired after 2.. he still gets paid the last 2 years.

Their buyout is just smaller.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Our secondary/safeties weren't actually bad in pass coverage... It's the defensive line that was trash putting no pressure on the QB . I'd kill for two James Lynch's. That better be our portal target .

Now run coverage was pathetic by the safeties but I think that was coaching having them 12-15 yds off line of scrimmage.

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I would say our DBs did an admirable job given how long they had to try and keep guys covered with less than zero pass rush

He was a poor defensive coordinator. Save the money...maybe the next guy will be better.

Baylor defensive coordinator Matt Powledge is expected to be hired as the defensive coordinator at North Texas under new coach Neal Brown, sources tell @CBSSports.

Worked at Baylor the last three years. Was previously the co-defensive coordinator at Oregon. pic.twitter.com/GWoQM0QcB6

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 9, 2025

I'm hearing from sources near Baylor that Powledge is leaving to join Neal Brown's staff at North Texas as defensive coordinator. Brown and Powledge were on the Kentucky staff together in 2013 before Brown became head coach at Troy and West Virginia, now UNT. @MeanGreenFB

— David Smoak (@DavidSmoak) December 9, 2025

Dave's coaching philosophy seems to be I'm going to throw it against the wall and see if it works. The guy has had so many chances. How many coordinators has he had so far? Who'd want to work for him? I mean the dude throws his coaches under the bus to save his own hide. Not to mention it's likely a temporary gig since this staff 'should' be gone in a year, hopefully less.

boognish_bear said:

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Ok...what DC can we find to climb aboard our sinking ship?

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Kevin Steele…oh the irony!

Keep Spavital

DTBear said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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Keep Spavital

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I think he will be kept but he 100% underperformed this year.

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agreed...one thing that comes to mind is RZ offense...we've got to get better there. Especially if we constantly insist on going for it.

Not surprised- I wish him all the best - I'm sure he is a good guy - hopefully the new gig works out for him

However, this defense was gawd awful - so whether a fall guy or not, something had to change - not sure it will matter too much but running it back in 2026 would have looked really pathetic

Gonzalez did well. Took an absolutely terrible unit to slightly below average. I didn't see complete brain dead coverage plays every single series that we saw last year. Not even really sure why the guy is here.. decent coach who could move.

D line was one the worst units I've seen. Lb other than Thomas were really, really bad (Dave's specific group). They weren't d-line bad but they were one of the worst units in the conference.

BearlyBeloved said:

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Keep Spavital

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First of all congrats on the new job for Powledge if that is in fact true. Is anyone worried Spav and Sonny could get back together now that Briles has left?

Glad he's out but how many coordinators have been fired under this guy now?

DTBear said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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Keep Spavital

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I think he will be kept but he 100% underperformed this year.

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I think part was coaching...but also the QB seemed to regress the longer the season went on with missing some easy targets...and the RBs could not stay healthy for even half a game it seemed.

boognish_bear said:

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DTBear said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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Keep Spavital

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I think he will be kept but he 100% underperformed this year.

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I think part was coaching...but also the QB seemed to regress the longer the season went on with missing some easy targets...and the RBs could not stay healthy for even half a game it seemed.

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He is the QB coach. With the QB and talent Baylor should have been scoring 50-60 per game. The play calling at times made no sense and put is in a hole (always trailing).

big sawdog fan but man he looked absolutely terrified to run. too often the OL created open slots while he scrambled to find a receiver, and I'd say 8/10 times this scenario happened he let the play die by getting sacked or throwing a bad pass rather than keeping it.

marigold23 said:

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big sawdog fan but man he looked absolutely terrified to run. too often the OL created open slots while he scrambled to find a receiver, and I'd say 8/10 times this scenario happened he let the play die by getting sacked or throwing a bad pass rather than keeping it.

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Last year in 11 games he ran for 227 yards on 59 attempts for a 20.6 avg.

This year in 12 games he ran for 17 yards on 56 attempts for a 1.4 avg.

I don't know how much of that was the coaching staff telling him not to run just to stay safe… or how much was just him electing not to run.

CDA said they wanted him to run! I believe he had a minor injury last season that affected his performance in the TX bowl. I have to imagine he felt immense pressure to stay healthy this season, both for the team's sake and for his future.

IowaBear said:

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The amount of guys who've fallen on the sword for Dave is damm impressive. Every off season it's everyone but Dave's fault.
Cant wait for the day the cockroach finally gets squashed

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might need to set out some glue traps........

- uncle fred

Fred's News (Huaco, Tx) - Baylor FB Coach Dave Aranda has apparently gotten stuck in some glue traps set behind some file cabinets in previously locked and hidden secret room and cannot be reached without tearing out some load bearing walls. CDA is apparently going to be stuck for a few more days as engineers are brought in to assess the precarious situation. No one is sure sure how CDA got in behind the cabinets in the first place.....

DEVELOPING!

North Texas lead the nation in PPG at…… 44. Yet you think Bu should have hung 50-60 every week? Let's be realistic here

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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Glad he's out but how many coordinators have been fired under this guy now?

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Way too many to have any consistency in the program. The musical chairs with assistants has caused us complete chaos.