With Baylor‘s viral “We Pay Players” campaign taking the sports world by storm, many have noticed the drastic improvement in the Bears’ recruiting.
On Saturday, Aranda spoke about embracing the change and mentioned the backstory behind the idea of creating the merch design.
“It was brought to me as ‘Hey, this is something that could make sense to do, and there’s some momentum right now that we could capitalize on,’ and I could see that right away,” Aranda said. “I knew there were coaches that we have that were jumping at the bit to put that on and to walk around in it.”
Shortly after sporting the new look, Baylor’s recruiting took a major positive turn. The team landed three major four-star prospects and flipped a high three-star from Texas Tech. The additions helped propel Baylor to a Top 30 ranking.
“I got a bunch of negative reviews on that, and positive ones too,” Aranda continued. “I think that’s where you go, and I think to put it out there like that and to not be ashamed or bashful about what it takes to win. You make that statement, and it’s because we weren’t in the game. Now that we’re saying that we’re in it, I think a lot of people needed to hear that.”
Dave Aranda and the Bears get set to take the field for the first time in 2024 on Saturday, August 31st, against the Tarleton State Texans.
