Here's the Baylor announcement:

Dave Aranda Named Baylor Football Head Coach



Baylor’s hire of Dave Aranda sends statement about the school, has major implications for Bears and LSU

Quote:To get to the next level, Baylor hired a new head football coach who was part of a national championship this week.

LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda will replace Matt Rhule at Baylor, the school confirmed Thursday.

Aranda, 43 and the nation’s highest paid assistant coach at $2.5 million, has been at LSU since 2016. Although LSU’s defense struggled at times during the regular season, the unit was strong late in the season and in the playoffs, containing Oklahoma’s Jalen Hurts and Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence.

In December, Aranda’s name had been mentioned as a possible candidate at UNLV. Baylor is a much, much better job, in a power conference and coming off an 11-3 season that included a berth in the Sugar Bowl (where they lost to Georgia.)

By landing the defensive coordinator of a national champion, Rhoades has shown that Baylor is a desired destination, just three seasons after it was viewed as a train wreck.

Rhule showed there was life after Art Briles. Now Baylor has contended in the Big 12 under two different coaches and schemes in the past decade, while opening a new stadium.

Jimbo Fisher tried to hire Aranda at Texas A&M and later gave him a rave review to the Baton Rouge Advocate.

“Look at the results he’s got,” Fisher said Wednesday. “Dave’s a tremendous coach. Just look at the film. Those guys are tremendously sound, and he’s very creative. He understands coverages, how to take guys out of the game, how to bracket guys. Their blitz packages. Their run packages. (He’s) a very knowledgeable guy who’s had a tremendous amount of success, and the kids relate to him and they do a great job. Dave’s one of the outstanding coordinators in this country. No doubt.”

Would love for Rice to transform into a destination from the train wreck we have had for 13 seasons.