Sources: Aranda back to Baylor in ’24; OC out

Last updated: 2023/11/26 at 11:27 PM

BigP Published November 26, 2023

Pete Thamel, ESPNNov 26, 2023, 02:43 PM ET

Baylor coach Dave Aranda will return to coach the Bears in 2024 but without offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, sources told ESPN on Sunday.

The decision came after the culmination of multiple meetings with school officials following a 3-9 season, and there’s a belief in a viable path forward for Aranda and Baylor despite recent results, sources told ESPN.

Aranda’s return comes with significant changes on and off the field, including the dismissal of Grimes, sources told ESPN.

Matt Powledge will keep the defensive coordinator title, but he will no longer be calling plays on that side of the ball, sources told ESPN. Aranda is expected to call the defensive plays, as he was one of the country’s top coordinators at both Wisconsin and LSU before taking the Baylor jobs.

The school will make a commitment for an uptick in Baylor’s NIL investment, sources told ESPN.

Crucial to Baylor moving forward will also be a commitment to help keep a strong core of young players in the program. Baylor played the most freshmen in the Big 12 in 2023, with 24 true and redshirt freshmen playing nearly 4,500 snaps.

There’s a belief that experience can be built on in 2024 and beyond. The talented true freshman core includes cornerbacks Caden Jenkins and Carl Williams IV and tailback Dawson Pendergrass.

Aranda is four years into his Baylor tenure and has a 23-25 overall record. His lone winning season — when the Bears went 12-2 in 2021 — is considered the best in school history, as the Bears reached No. 5 in the Associated Press rankings and won the Big 12 title and the Sugar Bowl.

Since then, Baylor is 9-16 overall, and it went 2-7 in Big 12 play this season. Baylor was upset by Texas State to open the year, lost a close game to No. 12 Utah in the second week and never found its footing thereafter.

Grimes was a finalist for the 2021 Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant, and also was nominated for the award while serving as BYU’s offensive coordinator in 2020. Baylor’s offense slipped significantly the past two seasons, ranking 95th nationally in scoring this fall.

Powledge replaced Ron Roberts as Baylor’s defensive playcaller, returning to the Bears’ staff after spending 2022 as Oregon’s co-defensive coordinator. Baylor fell to 111th nationally in points allowed this season, and gave up 135 in its final three games.

ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg contributed to this report.