HOUSTON – Before this year, Dave Aranda spent the beginning of every offseason focusing on things that really had nothing to do with football.

He put character development, charity work and academic achievement first, and while those are all important, he devoted more time to what was happening to his team off the field than to how Baylor was improving on it. But after a 3-9 season put him on the hot seat in 2023, Aranda adjusted.

In the past, Baylor’s early team meetings “really had nothing to do with football,” he said. This January, the Bears jumped straight into schematics between practices.

Michael Allen, a redshirt sophomore safety, noticed the change on the first day of offseason practice. Allen said Aranda continued to try to develop players off the field, but there was a change in approach.

“Football took priority over everything this year,” Allen said. “We were there on the first day this year and it was all about football. All about instant installation. I think it was great to have that at the forefront at the start of the season.”

Aranda, LSU’s former defensive coordinator, has tried to change parts of himself and the way he operates since leaving the Tigers at the end of the 2019 season. He had to come out of his shell when he was a head coach for the first time, and Aranda decided to do something different in his fifth year at Baylor.

Aranda struggled with making football such a priority. He never wanted there to be victories at any cost. But after two consecutive losing seasons threatened his professional status, he had to make a change. Now Baylor plays LSU in the Texas Bowl on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. after winning six straight games.

“I was always hesitant to do it because I didn’t want to go there – I don’t know, I feel like you’re sold out to a certain extent,” Aranda said. “From the beginning we did football in January and February and that’s all we did. I think I’ve changed because of it.

“I think to win, it just has to be about winning. And I think that’s the big difference.”

There have been more changes for Aranda over the last five years, and one of them was intentional. As LSU’s defensive coordinator from 2016 to 2019, Aranda oversaw one of the SEC’s best defenses and helped win a national championship.

But he’s already an introvert, and Aranda said he’s become even more introspective during his tenure at LSU. He once told ESPN that he wanted to become a head coach in part to force himself to talk more in the hopes that it would influence his children to do the same. Being the face of Baylor’s program helped him grow.

“In any job where there is a lot of pressure, you can go small and focus on the craft things,” Aranda said. “For my kids’ sake, I remember we had a great season at LSU. You wanted to win, but it was kind of an “us.” had to have this kind of season.

“It’s crazy what profession we’re in, there are a lot of seasons like that. The challenge is really to cope better with it and not to close yourself off, but rather to open up. Because I think those are the moments with your family and your friends that are important. I’m grateful that I went through all of this.

Baylor enjoyed quick success under Aranda, going 12-2 with a Big 12 championship and a Sugar Bowl victory in his second season. But the Bears went 9-16 overall over the next two years.

After Baylor finished 101st nationally in offensive rating in 2023, Aranda replaced offensive coordinator. He also took on defensive duties again and returned to his roots.

“His teams at LSU are completely different defensively than the teams he has at Baylor,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “He will put together his defense based on his personnel. He had excellent personnel at LSU, where he was able to play much more aggressive man coverage. He doesn’t have quite the same personnel here at Baylor and does a great job of mixing things up.”

Despite the emphasis on football, Baylor struggled halfway through the season. After three defeats in a row, we went into an open date with a record of 2:4. One of them came in overtime against Colorado, another came with a one-point lead against BYU. Hal Presley, a senior wide receiver, cried after every game in the losing streak.

“(Aranda) made sure he never gave up on us,” Presley said. “He let us keep going no matter what happened. He urged us on. He didn’t give up. After the losses we suffered, the fans and things like that, they didn’t really like us. He made sure we continued on the right path, so I appreciate him.”

Baylor’s next game was at Texas Tech, which had won five of its first six games. Allen spoke to his teammates earlier and gave a speech about continuing to believe in himself despite the losses.

“It was all just a reiteration of what coach Aranda has said all year, that we have a good team and a good team,” Allen said. “I think it’s important for these guys to know that.”

Baylor won six straight games to close out the regular season, and the school announced Aranda would return next year. According to ESPN, he would have been owed a buyout of nearly $17 million. Aranda attributed the midseason turnaround to confidence.

“When you get a little win, you start to believe a little bit more,” Aranda said. “I think it’s hard to have a really strong belief without evidence. I think especially when there is a lot of noise. If you have a little bit of success and develop really strong faith, you can achieve greater success.”

In the future, Aranda would like to reinforce this belief by winning more games. He still emphasizes character development and academics, but emphasized that winning breeds respect.

“We have to change the story about ourselves,” Aranda said. “Winning does that. You want to win the right way and you want to be able to do it the right way. I feel like we can do it, but you have to win.”

Now he faces LSU, the team that helped Aranda make a name for himself. He still has fond memories of the 2019 national championship season, remembering quarterback Joe Burrow fighting with linebacker Patrick Queen at practice and telling the other defensive coaches one day in preseason camp, “Man, we can’t cover these guys.” .

LSU’s record-setting offense even forced Aranda to change his defensive scheme from a high safety with man coverage underneath. During spring training before the 2019 season, he began relying on more zone coverage and two high safeties.

Then LSU won the national championship, and he can still remember fans rocking the team bus on the way to the game.

Aranda didn’t talk much about his past at LSU this week, players said. Linebacker Keaton Thomas thought he would learn more, but called Aranda a “Zen master” who didn’t get emotional about facing his former team.

“I’m for LSU,” Aranda said. “Except this game.”