Teaching Toughness: Klanderman Talks Early Days of Baylor’s Defensive Rebuild

As first-year defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman settles into his new role in Waco, he has spent the spring diligently shaping a defensive identity, earning buy-in from a Baylor unit largely composed of newcomers, while attempting to restore the confidence of returning players who have been part of some porous defenses in recent seasons.

“Got to crawl before you walk, and so we’re crawling,” Klanderman told the media after a practice last Thursday. “But I think the big things right now, before we get into a whole bunch of schematic things, are that we’re trying to teach these guys to run to the ball and to play harder. We’re trying to get these guys off blocks, and we’re trying to get them in better pursuit angles when tackling. So that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

He continued, “We’ve put a decent amount of scheme in — probably more than we can handle right now. I’m trying to see who that overwhelms and who handles it. I’m trying to get a gauge for the guys in that regard. So, the first day was okay. Today’s a little sloppier — not in a bad way. I thought the effort was great, but it’s a work in progress, to be sure.”

After spending much of his coaching career under former North Dakota State and Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman, Klanderman was hired this offseason by Baylor head coach Dave Aranda to fix a BU defense that was toward the bottom of the Big 12 in every category in 2025, allowing 32.6 points and nearly 400 yards per game. Baylor was dead last in the conference in fumbles recovered (2) and sacks (12). So far, though, Klanderman has enjoyed the early returns of working with Aranda, as the two have bounced ideas off each other and value each other’s input.

“He’s been awesome,” Klanderman said of Aranda. “I think he is putting on a masterclass in terms of team building right now, and what he’s doing with the team — and the attitude of the team — is awesome to watch and be a part of. So he’s been around the defense, and I love having him.”

While it might get lost in the shuffle, Klanderman is another one of the 50-plus new faces trying to find his footing in Waco this spring. His consistent, even-keeled personality and coaching style, however, are qualities he hopes will help him bridge some early gaps with his players.

“I’m hoping that they just see me as steady Eddy,” Klanderman noted. “I’m hoping that they see me as predictable — not in a non-spontaneous, can’t-have-any-fun kind of way — but I’m hoping that they know what they’re going to get from me every day. And I hope that doesn’t change, no matter what I’m feeling or what I’m doing, and I hope that I deliver for them on anything that I say I’m going to do.”

For much of the past 15 years, Baylor has been known for high-flying offenses. With offensive coordinator Jake Spavital and quarterback DJ Lagway leading the way, the expectation is that the Bears will put up a lot of points this fall. Klanderman, however, wants to instill into his unit that Baylor’s capable of winning games on defense alone, and he has the reputation to back that up, as K-State had a top-25 nationally rated defense in three of Klanderman’s last four seasons in Manhattan.

“We’re not going to try to win games 53-51,” Klanderman said. “We’re going to try to shut people out. And that’s why I came here, because I thought we could do that. I know this place. I know Baylor. I know the hardworking, blue-collar mentality of Baylor. I think the really good teams here have had good offenses, to be sure, but they’ve also had some stifling defenses here, too. So I want to represent that as best as I can.”

He later added, “I don’t want the defense to be an afterthought to that. I want to win games on defense, and I want these guys to know and believe that they can do that. So I’m just trying, as a coach, to put that in their heads. I want them to be tough. I want them to be smart. I want them to be dependable, so that they can go out there and have confidence that we can get that stop, we can get that game, and if the offense is having a tough day, we can win this thing 10-3. That’s the hope.”

While the flurry of transfer portal additions have received most of the headlines in recent months, Klanderman, although he doesn’t like to single-out names to try and avoid leaving someone out, has been impressed with what Baylor returned on defense, saying that the Bears have a “disruptive” defensive line, one of the most athletic linebacker cores in the country and seven or eight safeties who could see consistent playing time.

“Generally, I’m more pleased than I thought,” he said. “It’s a bad way to say it, but I’m very pleased with the guys who are returners. Those guys didn’t get a lot of publicity because of all the transfers, but there are some dang good players here who are returners — some guys who played significantly and other guys who maybe didn’t play as much who are pretty dang good. I’m really happy with the transfers.”

With some of the team leaders on defense from last year either departing via graduation (Jackie Marshall and Devyn Bobby) or the transfer portal (Keaton Thomas), the Bears will have a mostly new group of captains on the defense, but there are already some players leading the charge.

“There are different styles of that,” Klanderman said of the team’s defensive leaders. “The vocal ones, like Devin [Turner], Jamaal Whyce is a new guy as a vocal leader. And then there are guys who kind of lay in the cut that do it. Hosea Wheeler is a great leader — not very loud. Braylen Jackson, as a returner who hasn’t played a bunch of snaps, is a great leader. Travion Barnes isn’t super outspoken; he’s a great leader.”

After totaling 162 tackles across three seasons at Northwestern, safety Devin Turner transferred to Baylor last portal cycle but suffered a season-ending knee injury on the final play of spring practice. Although Klanderman says Turner’s still working back to 100% health-wise, he believes Turner will be one of the most impactful players on defense.

“Devin is probably one of the most vocal, hardest-working off-the-field kids that we have, and that’s saying something, because there are quite a few that are pretty impressive,” Klanderman said. “He’s been a great mentor, a great leader and a great teammate.”

Another sure-fire impact player will be National Champion and Indiana transfer defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler, who posted 31 tackles, 11 quarterback pressures and two fumble recoveries for the Hoosiers. The only problem for Baylor is that Wheeler’s still awaiting word from the NCAA on whether or not he’ll get an extra season of eligibility, something that once appeared to be an open-and-shut case.

“It’s frustrating for him, certainly, but it’s frustrating for us too, because, as I mentioned, he is coming along as a leader and a valuable piece of that locker room,” Klanderman said of Wheeler’s situation. “And as we found out in the first couple of days, he’s a heck of a football player, too.”

He continued, “I don’t know how that’s going to end up. I wish something would happen, and you never know. It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened tomorrow, but it also wouldn’t surprise me, the way things are happening, if it happened in June. So, I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Despite the overall uncertainty surrounding the program with Aranda on the hot seat, the defensive struggles in recent years and so many new players from the transfer portal, Klanderman was asked on a closing note if he has the tools to transform Baylor’s defense into a stronger unit than in past seasons, and the veteran coordinator was unwavering in his belief that he has the pieces to turn it around.

“Without a doubt,” he confidently stated. “I think my job is to get these kids believing in themselves. I think that’s starting to happen a little bit. It’ll happen more once they see themselves actually doing it and feel themselves actually doing it.”

Klanderman went on to add, “Through two days, there are a million pictures they haven’t seen. There’s a lot of defense that we haven’t put in, a lot of situations that they haven’t been exposed to. But as that grows, and I don’t know when that’s going to happen, I don’t expect it to happen on Saturday. I don’t expect it’s going to happen next Wednesday. It’s going to take a few weeks, a few months, maybe the summer, maybe fall camp. But when it happens, we’ll be good enough to beat anybody.”