Baylor Finalizing Deal to Hire Joe Klanderman as Next DC | Report

Baylor plans to hire Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman as its next defensive coordinator; ESPN’s Pete Thamel first broke the news.

Klanderman will try to retool a Baylor defense that was toward the bottom of the Big 12 in every category, allowing 32.6 points per game, 197.2 rushing yards per game, 194.9 passing yards per game and an opponent third-down conversion rate of 41%. Baylor was dead last in the conference in fumbles recovered (2) and sacks (12).

Over the last four seasons, Klanderman’s defenses at Kansas State have ranked 41st (2025), 24th (2024), 24th (2023) and 19th (2022), according to ESPN’s F+ metric; the Wildcats won the Big 12 title in 2022.

Klanderman spent the last six seasons as Kansas State’s defensive coordinator under recently retired head coach Chris Klieman. Before that, Klanderman spent one season as Kansas State’s safeties coach (2019).

Prior to his time in Manhattan, Klanderman spent five seasons as the defensive backs coach at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, also under Klieman, where he won four national titles.

Klanderman started his coaching career at Minnesota State after spending five seasons with the Mavericks as a defensive lineman from 1997 to 2001.

Although Klanderman will technically be replacing former defensive coordinator Matthew Powledge, who took the DC job at North Texas earlier this week, it was head coach Dave Aranda who called plays for the Bears’ defense each of the past two seasons.

Aranda is now expected to hand off the play-calling duties to Klanderman as Baylor looks to revamp that side of the ball.