Nike rep believes Baylor is the new Clemson

For the fourth time in the last decade, and under its third different head football coach, Baylor finds itself deep into a season competing for a Big 12 Championship on the football field. Over a half-billion dollars have been committed to capital projects for the athletic department in the last 13 years and the overall investment from its fans, supporters and administration are paying dividends like never before seen in Waco.

Those types of commitments and investments — along with major success in athletics across the board including most recently a National Championship by the men’s basketball program — are being noticed in one of the most key representatives in the collegiate athletic industry.

Nike.

In an interview with SicEm365 Radio, national college football writer Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports revealed information about Nike's overall opinion on the athletic program in Waco.

Dodd spoke with a representative from Nike over the weekend as Baylor opened its 2021 basketball season on Friday and eventually secured a football victory over No. 8 Oklahoma on Saturday. 

“There was a Nike rep at the basketball game and the football game who has Baylor and he’s had them for like the last five years,” Dodd said. “He told me this is the new Clemson in that football rises up and carries everything else.

“Now, Clemson basketball obviously isn’t a national factor, but there is that carry over at Clemson where everything now is better at Clemson. Enrollment and everything else. Baylor was always good at basketball so I don’t know if that’s a good comparison. But that’s how he put it, that they’ve got everything in place, they’ve got the AD and the coaches now. They’ve got a national championship in basketball, that’s not going away.”

Baylor recently announced it will break ground on the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion, a roughly $150 million facility where its basketball program’s will play in the coming years, and the Fudge Football Operations Center, 105,000 square foot operations center, before the summer of 2022.

After being represented by a smorgasbord of apparel companies over the years, Baylor Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades made the decision to transition all of its teams to fall under the Nike umbrella. With its rise up the athletic totem pole nationally, the decision was a wise one considering what a strong relationship with Nike could mean long term.

“Art (Briles) took them to places they’ve never been before, but Matt Rhule and now Dave Aranda look like they are going to do the same thing despite the scandal,” Dodd added as context to his conversation with the unnamed Nike rep. 

“(The success) almost sustained itself. Matt Rhule had Baylor within an overtime with a third string quarterback of winning the Big 12 and going to the playoff. Dave Aranda, with two weeks left to go in this season, his second season after a 2-7 debut, has Baylor within shouting distance of the Big 12 Championship game.

“I think that speaks highly of everything that is in place there, the decisions they’ve made to hire these people. It’s not going away anytime soon.”