TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
One of the heroes of LSU’s last national championship season in 2019 has been fired.
Dave Aranda, who was the Tigers’ flashy defensive coordinator from 2016-19 known for creative blitz and coverage packages, left LSU the day after the Tigers beat Clemson, 42-25, on Jan. 13, 2020, in the College Football Playoff national championship game at the Superdome for the Baylor head coaching job.
Aranda, 50, was fired on Sunday by Baylor after a 4-3 start (2-2 Big 12) in his seventh season that followed a 5-7 and 3-6 season in 2025 for his third losing season out of the previous four. He also had a losing season at 2-7 in his first season in the 2020 COVID year.
Baylor lost at Kansas, 25-24, on Saturday after the Jayhawks came in at 2-4 and 0-3. Kansas broke a 14-game losing streak to Baylor going back to 2007. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, whom Aranda just hired after last season from Kansas State, will replace Aranda as interim coach.
Aranda is expected to receive a $12 million buyout as his contract ran through the 2029 season. Then-LSU head coach Les Miles hired Aranda from the Wisconsin defensive coordinator post after the 2015 season. Aranda’s defenses were among the national leaders at Wisconsin from 2013-15. He also put up impressive numbers as the defensive coordinator at Utah State in 2012 and at Hawaii in 2010 and ’11.
When Miles was fired early in the 2016 season and replaced by assistant coach Ed Orgeron, there was never any question Orgeron would keep the popular Aranda. When Orgeron was promoted from interim coach to head coach, he kept Aranda as defensive coordinator and constantly raved about him through the 15-0 national championship season.
When LSU was searching for a replacement for Orgeron late in the 2021 season, Aranda’s name was a hot one as he was leading Baylor to an 11-2 regular season (7-2 Big 12). LSU instead hired Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly before Aranda went on to beat Ole Miss and coach Lane Kiffin, 21-7, in the Sugar Bowl and finish No. 5 in the Associated Press poll at 12-2. That remains the best record in Baylor history. Art Briles had back-to-back 11-2 seasons in 2013 and ’14 at Baylor, and Matt Rhule was 11-3 in 2019.
Aranda couldn’t sustain that success, however, as the Bears went 6-7 and 4-5 and 3-9 and 2-7 in the 2022 and ’23 seasons. He got back to 8-5 and 6-3 in the 2024 season before his fourth losing season in six seasons in 2025. He completes his Baylor career at 40-40.
The Bears started this season at 4-1 but lost to TCU and Kansas back-to-back.
Aranda is the third FBS head coach fired this season after Maryland fired Mike Locksley last week and North Carolina State fired Dave Doeren on Saturday.
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