Following back-to-back seasons of failure to get back into the hunt for a Big 12 Football title, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda is entering the 2024 season under immense pressure to succeed.
The Bears head coach was recently listed by On3’s Andy Staples as a coach sitting in one of the top three hottest seats in college football, joining Florida’s Billy Napier and Arkansas’ Sam Pittman.
“Dave Aranda, the only one of these who’s won the conference at their school,” Staples said. “They won the conference at Baylor in 2021. That, of course, engendered a lot of goodwill. That goodwill is now mostly gone. So what do they have to do? Be competitive in the Big 12. The thing about the Big 12 is that there are a lot of teams that can compete for the conference title. We’re not looking at Baylor as one of those teams and it has to insert itself in that conversation. Can it do it? We’re going to find out,” Staples said. Dave Aranda definitely has a chance to pull out of this. You look at that schedule, there are a lot of coin-flip games. If you can win them, you’ll be okay.”
While Aranda led the Bears to a Big 12 Championship win in 2021, the previous two seasons have been very different. Baylor finished the 2022 season barely making a bowl game with a 6-7 overall record, followed by an abysmal 3-9 record the following year.
As Staples said, the new Big 12 is a league that could legitimately be won by 10 different teams. If Baylor can win a few games early, they could sneak their way into that conversation and help the flames on Aranda’s seat cool off a bit.
