Baylor hires Jake Spavital as offensive coordinator as he returns to Texas after a year at Cal

Updated Nov. 30, 2023 7:17 p.m. ET

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WACO, Texas (AP) — Jake Spavital is leaving California after one season to become offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Baylor, where head coach and defensive specialist Dave Aranda was retained after a 3-9 season.

Aranda, who is 23-25 in his four seasons, announced Spavital's hiring Thursday. That came four days after offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes was fired by the Bears after three seasons in that role.

Spavital is coming off his second one-year stint as offensive coordinator at Cal, where he also was in 2016. He began his coaching career as West Virginia's quarterbacks coach from 2011-12, then went to Texas A&M as offensive coordinator/QBs coach for three seasons. His first departure from Cal came to return to West Virginia at OC from 2017-18 before four seasons as head coach at FBS team Texas State.

“I am excited to get back to Texas and thankful for the opportunity to work with Dave and his staff,” Spavital said. “I’ve admired Dave from afar for quite some time and have always viewed him as a coach that would be great to work alongside in the future, if I ever got that chance.”

Aranda was the defensive coordinator for LSU's national championship in 2019 before becoming Baylor's head coach. He is expected to take over play-calling duties on defense even with Matt Powledge remaining as defensive coordinator

Cal became bowl eligible for the first time in four seasons after winning their last three regular-season games. The Pac-12 Bears averaged 31.6 points a game and were fourth in the heir league with 181.1 yards rushing per game.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jake to Waco to lead our offensive attack,” Aranda said. “Jake brings so many things to the table and will be a tremendous asset to our program. Jake is one of the best offensive minds in the nation, having worked with some of the most innovative offenses in college football, and brings a great perspective to the offensive side of the ball as a former head coach in the state.”

Baylor was 13th in the 14-team Big 12 this season scoring 23.1 points a game and 11th averaging only 377.8 total yards per game. The Bears were last in scoring defense, giving up 33.3 points a game.

Former Baylor quarterback Shawn Bell, who spent the 2021-23 seasons as Baylor’s quarterbacks coach, will shift back to tight ends, the position group he coached in 2020.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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