As the USC Defensive Coordinator search continues, one hot name among the Trojan faithful can be crossed off the proverbial wish list.
It is being reported that current Baylor Bears head coach, Dave Aranda, will remain the head coach of the program for the 2024 season.
Sources: Baylor’s Dave Aranda will return to coach the Bears in 2024. He’s 9-16 since winning the Big 12 title, Sugar Bowl and Baylor’s first-ever 12-win season in 2021. Aranda’s return will come with significant changes on and off the field, as there’s expected to be staff…
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 26, 2023
Since winning the Big 12 title in the 2021 season as head coach, the Baylor Bears have gone 9-18, and the program feels to be in disarray. USC Trojans fans hoped that if Baylor decided to move on from Aranda, he would be a top choice of Lincoln Riley’s for the open USC Defensive Coordinator position.
Aranda made a name for himself as the defensive coordinator of the LSU team that won the National Championship back in 2019. Before his time at LSU, Aranda was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin.
Aranda does have strong ties to Southern California. He attended Redlands High School and then California Lutheran. After retiring from playing shortly after, he began his coaching career at Redlands HS, before becoming the LB coach at Cal Lutheran in 1996. He had stops at Texas Tech and Houston before coming back to Cal Lutheran in 2005 to take over the Defensive Coordinator role.
Dave Aranda would have been a tremendous hire for USC, but the Trojans will look back to other candidates. We should expect an announcement on the hiring this week.