Baylor head coach Dave Aranda will return for the 2026 season, university president Linda Livingstone announced Friday. The announcement comes one day after AD Mack Rhoades resigned, a decision also announced by Livingstone.
Those two events were interconnected. There was plenty of speculation Baylor would move on from Aranda following this season -- including, sources said, the possibility of a midseason firing in the event Baylor lost its homecoming game to UCF on Nov. 1 -- but the lack of a permanent AD left the university feeling like now was not the time to conduct a coaching search.
"We recognize this decision will generate strong opinions. Let me be clear: Baylor expects excellence, accountability and competitiveness at the highest level," Livingstone said.
Baylor enters Saturday's trip to Arizona (1 p.m. ET, TNT) at 5-5 on the season and 36-35 in the Aranda era. After a 2-7 debut season in 2020, Baylor rocketed forward in 2021 with one of the most successful seasons in school history. The Bears went 12-2, won a dramatic Big 12 Championship over CFP hopeful Oklahoma State, and handled Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl to post the first AP top-5 finish in school history.
Aranda has failed to maintain the standard of 2021, though. Baylor slinked to 6-7 in 2022, then 3-9 in '23. The Bears improved to 8-5 last season following the hire of Jake Spavital as offensive coordinator, but are now .500 on the season and 3-4 in Big 12 play following a 55-28 loss to Utah last week.
Like many schools, Baylor's decision was a pragmatic one. Simply put, it would be cost prohibitive to conduct a coaching search and all that entails at this moment in time.
Baylor needs to beat Arizona or No. 23 Houston to avoid missing a bowl game for the second time in three seasons.