Baylor Opens Search After Aranda; Traylor a Target — SkimNews
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- Baylor moved on from head coach Dave Aranda on Sunday, Oct. 25, becoming the third Power 4 program to make a coaching change in the 2026 college football carousel.
- Dave Aranda arrived before the 2020 season after coordinating the defenses at Wisconsin and LSU, then went 12-2 in 2021 with a Sugar Bowl win and a top-5 finish in the AP Poll.
- Baylor finished the remainder of Aranda's tenure sub-.500 overall and in the Big 12, a sharp reversal of the 12-2 peak the source says he was never able to sustain.
- Jeff Traylor is the candidate named on the Baylor hot board: the UTSA head coach is 58-27 overall since taking over in 2020, with a 37-12 conference mark split between Conference USA and the AAC.
- UTSA is off to a 5-1 start this year after "spinning their wheels" for the past two seasons, and that turnaround has boosted Traylor's stock again as a Baylor coaching candidate.
- Tim Watkins said Traylor has the coveted "Texas ties," has won across multiple quarterbacks beginning with Frank Harris, and has hired offensive and defensive coordinators strong enough to be poached away.
- Bears Illustrated says its hot board also includes a sitting head coach with multiple College Football Playoff appearances, names visible only to subscribers, alongside a 50% discount on annual VIP memberships for new members.
Why it matters: Baylor's bar is explicit: Aranda went 12-2 in 2021, then the Bears finished sub-.500 in every season after. Traylor's 58-27 record at UTSA and a 5-1 Roadrunners start give the search a concrete Texas-tied option, while the other hot-board names — including a sitting CFP-experienced head coach — remain subscriber-only.
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