Baylor fires head coach Dave Aranda - ESPN

After two straight losses, Baylor fired football coach Dave Aranda on Sunday.

The move comes a day after the Bears lost to Kansas, giving the Jayhawks their first Big 12 win of the season and ending a 14-game losing streak against Baylor that dated back to 2007.

Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, in his first season after arriving from Kansas State, will serve as the Bears' interim coach.

Aranda was 40-40 in seven years in Waco. He arrived after serving as LSU's defensive coordinator on their 2019 national championship team. After posting a 2-7 record in his debut season in 2020, Aranda led the Bears to a 12-2 record, a Big 12 championship and a win in the Sugar Bowl in 2021. It would prove to be the high-water mark for his tenure. The Bears would only have one more winning season under him.

«Anyone who knows Dave Aranda understands what a genuine and honorable person he is and how much he deeply cares for his players, staff and this University,» Baylor athletic director Doug McNamee said in a statement. «He is a gifted coach and a brilliant football mind whose leadership brought some of our best Baylor football memories. While this is a difficult moment, we believe a change in leadership is necessary at this time for our program. We will forever be thankful to Dave and his family for their time here at Baylor, and we wish them well.»

Aranda was popular with the Baylor administration but was admittedly slow to adapt to the NIL era. At Big 12 media days in 2024, when asked how the Bears had picked up momentum on the recruiting trail, he responded candidly, «We're paying players.»

Aranda made changes at both coordinator positions during his tenure, firing two offensive and two defensive coordinators. The Bears went 8-5