Rhule believes Baylor's future is very bright under direction of Dave Aranda
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On Monday, former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule joined David Smoak, Paul Catalina and Craig Smoak on SicEm365 Radio to discuss his decision to draft Baylor defensive lineman Bravvion Roy and lure former offensive center Sam Tecklenburg out of retirement to join him in Carolina with the Panthers.
During the 23-minute conversation Rhule was asked to give his thoughts on his successor in Waco, former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, and the staff Aranda assembled to replace Rhule’s staff.
“Well obviously I’m on the outside looking in, but I know Dave Aranda and I think what’s really cool is we evaluated like 14 LSU players total and about seven of their defensive players,” Rhule stated. “I’ve watched more LSU defensive film than I ever would have and I think when you get to know those players on defense you can tell that they are really well coached, they are really well taught, everything is done at a high level.”
On a personal level, Rhule holds Aranda in high regard.
“My interaction with Coach Aranda - I’ve talked to him one or two times - are that he’s a quality, quality man and you obviously know he’s a great coach and great teacher and I think he stands what Baylor stands for,” Rhule added.
“I think the fact that he went there and promoted Corey (Campbell), kept the strength coach, keep, as you said, David (Wetzel) and Joey (McGuire) and Shawn (Bell) and many more other guys that are working in the building, Mike Wallace, James Blanchard, it just shows that he’s a really man strong internally. He’s not just going to go in there and get rid of anybody that was here on the previous staff, and that’s what a lot of people do. And that’s what a lot of people do.
“People are like I don’t want anyone here that was — but Dave is a great coach and a better person and he knows he’s going to do it his way and he wants the best people around him. And you know what, I tried to do the same thing when I got here. I didn’t get just get rid of everyone. I kept two coaches that were on the previous staff, kept a lot of operational people that were here in Carolina. I just have a lot of respect for that.
Rhule stated in the interview with SicEm365 Radio that he expects Baylor to continue to have success and send prospects to the NFL in the upcoming years under Aranda while acknowledging the difficulty for coaches around the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But he also believes that behind by Aranda, along with the the leadership throughout the University, there are great things in store for the Baylor football program.
“I think the future is very bright,” Rhule said.
“Obviously it’s difficult times in college football with everything that’s happened, but you know what, when you have Mack Rhoades and you have Linda Livingstone and Jeramiah Dickey, when you have that type of leader, you have those types of people, you’re going to weather the storm.”
