After leading Baylor to a Big 12 title and a Sugar Bowl championship in his second season, coach Dave Aranda has finalized a new contract through the 2029 season.
Aranda, 45, won AP Big 12 Coach of the Year honors in 2021, when Baylor went 12-2 and beat Ole Miss to win its first Sugar Bowl title since 1957. Baylor completed one of the nation’s biggest turnarounds after going 2-7 in 2020, and finished No. 5 nationally in the AP poll.
Baylor and Aranda began discussing a new contract late in the season and reached a verbal agreement in December, according to athletic director Mack Rhoades. Aranda’s initial contract with the school ran through the 2025 season. Baylor, as a private school, does not release terms.
“Dave has brought unprecedented success to our football program both on and off the field,” Rhoades said in a statement. “He has brought tremendous national exposure and acclaim to our institution and the greater Waco community. We look forward to the future with Dave, his wife, Dione, and their children and the continued growth of our football program, student-athletes, and fan support under his exceptional leadership. Dave is, without question, one of the most brilliant minds in college football across the country.”
Aranda came to Baylor from LSU, where he served as defensive coordinator and helped the Tigers to a national title in 2019. The California native also held coordinator stints at Wisconsin, Utah State and Hawai’i.
He won the George Munger national coach of the year award last fall and was a finalist for three other national coaching honors.
Rhoades told ESPN last month that Baylor’s success in both football and men’s basketball, which won the national title in 2021, have expedited fundraising for two major facilities projects, including a new football operations building set to break ground this summer.
“It provides us maybe some space and capacity to be able to say, ‘OK, what’s next?'” Rhoades said. “In terms of not just capital, but how we invest in our own people, and how do we do the very, very best in terms of retention moving forward.”