Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the regular season.
Baylor has fired head football coach Dave Aranda, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel, a day after a loss to Kansas. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman takes over as interim head coach for the remainder of the regular season.
Baylor hired Aranda ahead of the 2020 season, his first head coaching job after four years as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at LSU, including on the Tigers' 2019 national championship team. He opened his Baylor tenure with a 2-7 record in the COVID-19 shortened season, then delivered the best single-season turnaround in school history, going 12-2 in 2021 and winning the Big 12 title along with a Sugar Bowl victory. That mark remains the most wins in a single season in Baylor history.
The success did not last. Baylor followed that peak with a 6-7 season and then a 3-9 season, and the program never recovered its 2021 form. Aranda finishes his seventh year in Waco with four losing seasons on his resume, prompting the school to move on.