Tag: Dave Aranda

Dave Aranda to Baylor highlights Wisconsin’s impact in coaching

More on Wisconsin in the coaching industry

One month ago, Hayden Fry — the iconic former coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes — died at age 90. Fry assembled what many regard as the greatest football coaching tree of all time, most centrally embodied by his 1983 coaching staff at Iowa. That staff had Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz, Dan McCarney, and a guy you might know a little bit about, Barry Alvarez. That staff was full of high-quality major college football head coaches, but more than that, it had several coaches who completely rebuilt and transformed programs which had been mediocre at best, atrocious at worst, before their arrivals.

Hayden Fry made no secret about his desire to have assistant coaches who one day wanted to be head coaches. He had more than a vision: Fry possessed a strong architecture which developed complete coaches, men capable of being prepared for — and aware of — every aspect of coaching college football players.

It is no idle coincidence, no accident of history, that Alvarez was so thoroughly successful after learning under Fry’s guidance. It is no accident, either, that Alvarez has — in Fry’s mold — developed a similarly complete architecture at Wisconsin. Badger fans know this. They know that Alvarez, in addition to being a great coach, created a larger infrastructure in which the program — with a proven method and clear goals — could steadily replicate success.

This part of the Alvarez legacy continues to grow. It grows larger every time a Wisconsin assistant coach becomes a head coach. The latest assistant to make that jump is Dave Aranda, who became Baylor’s head coach on Thursday. Aranda’s ascent from Wisconsin to LSU to Baylor leads to an amazing fact noted by Dave Heller of Fox Sports Wisconsin:

The credibility of Hayden Fry built the credibility of Barry Alvarez, which Pat Richter recognized. That built the credibility of Wisconsin football, which built the credibility of Wisconsin assistants, which has built a pipeline for Wisconsin assistants to get head coaching jobs… and not merely any coaching jobs, but Power Five coaching jobs, with Jim Leonhard getting his chance later in the 2020s, if he wants to pursue that path.

Wisconsin might still be searching for a first College Football Playoff berth, but make no mistake: The Badgers have developed one of the more significant and enduring programs in major college football. The coaching industry tells the story.

Former Wisconsin Defensive Coordinator Dave Aranda Named Baylor’s Head Football Coach

Former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda named the new head coach at Baylor.

Former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda was announced as the new head football coach at Baylor on Thursday.

Aranda, 43, will replace former Baylor head coach Matt Rhule who accepted the head coaching position with the Carolina Panthers following Baylor’s loss to Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Prior to coming to Wisconsin in 2013, Aranda served as the defensive coordinator at Utah State for one season under Gary Andersen in 2012. Andersen replaced Bret Bielema as the head coach at Wisconsin in 2013 when Bielema left for the Arkansas head coaching position. Despite the one season together at Utah State Andersen hired Aranda to coordinate Wisconsin’s defense.

In Aranda’s three seasons with the Badgers as the defensive coordinator, the Badgers consistently ranked as one of the top defenses as Aranda made the switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4.

Despite Aranda’s short stay at Wisconsin, his impact had a lasting effect.

In his three seasons with the Badgers, his defense’s consistently improved. In 2013 Wisconsin’s defense ranked seventh nationally in total defense (305.1 yards per game), in 2014 they ranked fourth nationally (294.1 yards per game), and in 2015 they ranked second nationally (268.5 yards per game).

Not to mention in two of his three seasons at Wisconsin the Badgers scoring defense ranked in the top 10 nationally, which includes ranking 1st in his last year as the Badgers allowed 13.7 points per game.

Even when Aranda was hired away from Wisconsin by LSU his defenses were still some of the top nationally in his four seasons with the Tigers. Aranda was able to help the Tigers win their first national championship since 2008 on Monday night when LSU beat Clemson 42-to-25.

This will mark Aranda’s first head coaching job as prior to him accepting the head coaching position in Waco he was being discussed as the head coach for the opening at UNLV.

With Aranda being named the head coach at Baylor he is the sixth former Badger defensive coordinator since 2004 to be named head coach of a college football program. Aranda joins a list that already includes Bielema (Wisconsin), Dave Doeren (Northern Illinois), Charlie Partridge (Florida Atlantic), Chris Ash (Rutgers), and Justin Wilcox (California).

In the end, Jacob Phillips felt it was ‘God’s plan for me to come to LSU’

Oklahoma and LSU have a defensive connection in the Peach Bowl, and it stems from one of the more fascinating recruiting stories

ATLANTA — On college footballs selection Sunday, two friends knew they’d get to see each other again.

Right after Oklahoma and LSU were announced as opponents in the College Football Playoff at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Robert Barnes picked up his phone and texted LSU starting linebacker Jacob Phillips right away.

“Me and Jacob kept contact since he committed here and we were supposed to be roommates when he came here,” Barnes said. “We’ve been very supportive of each other throughout our careers and I’m proud to see what he is about to do in this game and I know he’s been looking forward to (playing in the College Football Playoff) since he’s been at LSU.”

It’s one of many relationship Philips still cherishes.

“They were very close,” he told Sooners Wire at Peach Bowl media day. “I was committed for I think like three months so you know we used to talk like every day. You know just can’t wait to get to campus and different things like that. In the end obviously I went somewhere else but you know when you build relationships like that some of them, even through like the thick, they kind of keep on going.

Barnes and Phillips ‘chopped it up’ this week when getting to see each other for the first time in years, according to Barnes, but how the two didn’t become roommates remains one of the more fascinating recruiting stories and one that benefitted LSU greatly.

The state of Tennessee’s No. 1 player in the 2017 recruiting class was a recruiting battle that seemed to get then-linebackers coach Tim Kish over-the-hump.

Oklahoma first offered Phillips in the summer of 2015, three months before the first non-Tennessee offer came (Oregon). He was a high three-star, low four-star prospect at the time, standing 6-foot-3 and a good frame to build into.

Texas A&M came calling after, then Notre Dame, Auburn, Alabama and lastly—LSU.

Oklahoma and Kish proved themselves right with a great evaluation as that light 6-foot-3 linebacker turned into a 6-foot-3, 235 pound five-star recruit. Right before the notoriety came, Phillips committed to the Sooners.

He spent three months committed to Oklahoma.

Then, a change of heart came.

And a phone call.

“It was really important,” said LSU head coach Ed Orgeron, “It was. Internally at that time, we needed some middle linebackers. (Jacob Phillips) was the number one player in the state of Tennessee. He called me and said, ‘Coach, I need you to come see me.’ I got on a plane, was there the next morning.

“His mom and daddy trust us. They love Dave Aranda. They love the scheme. (Jacob) has been one of the best players we’ve had on our football team. He’s a great young man, great character. I’m glad we got him.”

LSU was more than willing than pick up that phone call.

The Tigers had more specialists on the team at the time than inside linebackers.

“It was big—going into that recruiting cycle, we really had no linebackers returning or very few linebackers returning,” said defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. “It was a drastic, drastic need. I remember early in the process, when all of that is identified in what we got to do fix everything, some of the thought was do we want to go junior college or want to do this, want to do that. Our thought right away was to recruit a freshman, develop them and to go that route. The problem with that is just how strong the recruiting battles are and how late we were into the party, there was some ground we had to make up.

“I assisted in recruiting Jacob. We worked really hard at it. Were able to make headway into it and I’m very thankful we were able to get him. He’s played ever since he got here.”

It’s hard not to imagine the potential of top Oklahoma linebacker Kenneth Murray and Phillips playing side-by-side. That thought is one Aranda oohed and aahed about when asked on Thursday at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl media day.

The other was not having Phillips at all, as Aranda noted he legitimately doesn’t know what he would do without him right no.

Phillips is still thankful for everything Oklahoma did for him during his recruitment, and is now hoping he can reach his goals of winning a national championship as an LSU Tiger.

“Oh it was definitely tough,” he said about calling Oklahoma and de-committing. “I looked at Oklahoma like … I mean it was a major blessing to be in that position and they were great people, all the recruits, all the players, every time I went there there was nothing but the best so gratitude to Oklahoma but in the end it was God’s plan for me to come to LSU.”

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LSU starting running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire not practicing with Tigers ahead of Peach Bowl

After injuring his hamstring in practice last week, LSU’s leading rusher, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire’s status is still undecided.

LSU’s starting running back was absent from practice Tuesday ahead of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire was not seen during the 15 minutes of practice that was open to media which does not rule out the possibility of him practicing today. Media will have another 15 minutes to watch the Tigers on Thursday.

After injuring his hamstring in practice last week, LSU’s leading rusher, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire’s status for the Peach Bowl is still undecided.

“Clyde’s a little bit better than we thought. He’s off the crutches and off the scooter,” Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron told reporters Monday. “He has a chance to play. I don’t know if he’s going to play, it will be day by day.”

Behind Edwards-Helaire, LSU’s second-leading rusher is quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Despite this, the Tigers’ offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger has full belief in his full list of running backs.

“I’m excited about the other three backs,” Ensminger told reporters Tuesday. “I believe we will have Clyde. That’s my opinion.

“If he’s not, we have capable backs. Ty Davis is a bull runner. John Emery can make people miss in space. Chris Curry, I think Chris Curry runs the ball hard. You saw him at the end of the game last week or two weeks ago, runs the ball hard. He’s very secure with the ball.”

Edward-Helaire on the season has rushed for 1,290 yards on 197 carries with 16 rushing touchdowns. Edwards-Helaire is also a large part of the passing game with 50 receptions for 399 yards and a touchdown.

Oklahoma and LSU are set to kick off on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN.

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