https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/baylor-bears/article/baylor-fires-dave-aranda-coach-candidates-big-12-22493661.php

(Kevin Sherrington)

Dave Aranda wasn't the first college football coach to be fired this season, just the first this week. He won't be the last, either. Coach season usually beats deer season by a couple weeks around these parts.
A .500 record in Aranda's not-quite seven seasons suggests Baylor was well within its rights to move on, though mediocrity is the historical norm in Waco even in the best of times. Only two of its coaches in the last 70 years have managed much better.
Art Briles? The guilty pleasure.
Most Baylor fans are still kicking themselves for letting one of Aranda's former assistants get away. Joey McGuire is Aranda's polar opposite, at least in personality. Glib, grinning, eager to please. He could sell a recruit or a car or a high rise. Not hard to see why his absence might make Baylor fans even fonder after seven years of a coach whose personality once inspired the nickname "Fencepost."

No question about it, Aranda is an odd duck. Not sure what else you'd say about a coach who quotes from the Velveteen Rabbit and Berenstain Bears. At least one of his peers called him the gold standard for weird. Others would tell you that college football is better for his presence. Neither group would argue with the other's premise.
My first and lasting impression of him came in a half-hour interview just a couple weeks ago, after a 4-1 start briefly flagged what proved to be false hope. My first question was about the personality change reflected in a voluminous uptick in social media posts, not to mention actual signs of emotion.
Most coaches might not have appreciated the question, particularly coming from someone they didn't know. Aranda launched into a five-minute answer that started with a change in diet and exercise; veered through an admission that he "probably wasn't happy"; and rambled through more self-reflection than I've heard from pretty much all the coaches I've interviewed over the last half-century combined.
Plenty of coaches have mastered the art of self-deprecation, but I can tell the difference. Aranda realized he'd retreated to a dark place, and he was genuinely worried about the model he'd become for his children as well as his players.
A Baylor official told me then that Aranda is "the most unique man in college football ... So honest and kind ... Quite the change from the traditional ego-led college football coach."
Related: 6 potential Baylor head coach candidates: Could Lincoln Riley return to his home state?
Baylor's next coach may win more games, though it'll be harder than some boosters want to believe. The days of Briles running up 60 points are over. College football is on a different path these days, one that requires more than a brilliant offensive mind and a capacity for whatever it takes. Baylor has to ante up if it wants to play with the big boys, and I'm not sure they have the resources or resolve.
Of course, Joey found a place in Lubbock with both. Such largesse comes with a price for the coach, too. Texas Tech's first loss this season came with a tweet from the board chairman announcing there was "no excuse or reason" for it.
Come to think of it, Waco might not be so bad after all, right, Joey?
My guess is UTSA's Jeff Traylor will get some traction with the search committee. He'd be a good fit. Certainly closer to what we've come to expect of coaches.
No matter what Baylor officials do, I wish them luck. These are difficult times for programs on the fringes of relevance. Going all in requires you to search your soul, if not sell it. A coach with a moral compass would seem to be just the leader you need. The Bears had one, and he didn't work out. Chances are they can find a better coach. A better man will take some doing.

Ouch. The truth hurts.

Assassin said:

---

https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/baylor-bears/article/baylor-fires-dave-aranda-coach-candidates-big-12-22493661.php

(Kevin Sherrington)

Dave Aranda wasn't the first college football coach to be fired this season, just the first this week. He won't be the last, either. Coach season usually beats deer season by a couple weeks around these parts.
A .500 record in Aranda's not-quite seven seasons suggests Baylor was well within its rights to move on, though mediocrity is the historical norm in Waco even in the best of times. Only two of its coaches in the last 70 years have managed much better.
Art Briles? The guilty pleasure.
Most Baylor fans are still kicking themselves for letting one of Aranda's former assistants get away. Joey McGuire is Aranda's polar opposite, at least in personality. Glib, grinning, eager to please. He could sell a recruit or a car or a high rise. Not hard to see why his absence might make Baylor fans even fonder after seven years of a coach whose personality once inspired the nickname "Fencepost."

No question about it, Aranda is an odd duck. Not sure what else you'd say about a coach who quotes from the Velveteen Rabbit and Berenstain Bears. At least one of his peers called him the gold standard for weird. Others would tell you that college football is better for his presence. Neither group would argue with the other's premise.
My first and lasting impression of him came in a half-hour interview just a couple weeks ago, after a 4-1 start briefly flagged what proved to be false hope. My first question was about the personality change reflected in a voluminous uptick in social media posts, not to mention actual signs of emotion.
Most coaches might not have appreciated the question, particularly coming from someone they didn't know. Aranda launched into a five-minute answer that started with a change in diet and exercise; veered through an admission that he "probably wasn't happy"; and rambled through more self-reflection than I've heard from pretty much all the coaches I've interviewed over the last half-century combined.
Plenty of coaches have mastered the art of self-deprecation, but I can tell the difference. Aranda realized he'd retreated to a dark place, and he was genuinely worried about the model he'd become for his children as well as his players.
A Baylor official told me then that Aranda is "the most unique man in college football ... So honest and kind ... Quite the change from the traditional ego-led college football coach."
Related: 6 potential Baylor head coach candidates: Could Lincoln Riley return to his home state?
Baylor's next coach may win more games, though it'll be harder than some boosters want to believe. The days of Briles running up 60 points are over. College football is on a different path these days, one that requires more than a brilliant offensive mind and a capacity for whatever it takes. Baylor has to ante up if it wants to play with the big boys, and I'm not sure they have the resources or resolve.
Of course, Joey found a place in Lubbock with both. Such largesse comes with a price for the coach, too. Texas Tech's first loss this season came with a tweet from the board chairman announcing there was "no excuse or reason" for it.
Come to think of it, Waco might not be so bad after all, right, Joey?
My guess is UTSA's Jeff Traylor will get some traction with the search committee. He'd be a good fit. Certainly closer to what we've come to expect of coaches.
No matter what Baylor officials do, I wish them luck. These are difficult times for programs on the fringes of relevance. Going all in requires you to search your soul, if not sell it. A coach with a moral compass would seem to be just the leader you need. The Bears had one, and he didn't work out. Chances are they can find a better coach. A better man will take some doing.

---

So, ultimately, Baylor literally paid Dave $Millions annually because he was a nice guy who didn't get arrested. I'm so sick of this nice guy thing with him.

Whether a team is relevant has become a revolving door depending on whether NIL flows into a team or is cut off. If you want an example, consider Indiana. Before the current coach and NIL arrived, IU had an historical record below .500. The old paradigms just aren't valid anymore. It can all change on a dime......if there are enough dimes.

blackie said:

---

Whether a team is relevant has become a revolving door depending on whether NIL flows into a team or is cut off. If you want an example, consider Indiana. Before the current coach and NIL arrived, IU had an historical record below .500. The old paradigms just aren't valid anymore. It can all change on a dime......if there are enough dimes.

---

And there are different levels of relevance in modern college football, particularly with a 24-team playoff coming to the sport.

The suggestion that corners need to be cut to be Big 12 relevant is stupid and lazy. We're not trying to be the University of Texas, Texas A&M or Texas Tech. There's no reason we can't have what Utah, Arizona, Houston, Oklahoma State, etc., have right now, which is a well-coached, competitive, overachieving football team.

All we need to achieve that is a reasonable NIL commitment and a good football coach. That's all we've needed for five years now. As good a guy as Dave Aranda is, he was holding our program back, and I suspect we'll see evidence of that over the next five weeks.

This article goes back to the question of how Dave got through the interview process to be like "Yup, that is my guy"

Mack is a fkn idiot (like we have been saying for years despite being steamrolled for it)