Baylor's Aranda gets contract extension through 2028 season

Published Feb. 15, 2022 12:46 p.m. ET

Associated Press

WACO, Texas (AP) — Baylor coach Dave Aranda has agreed to a contract extension through the 2028 season after leading the Bears to a Big 12 championship and a school-record 12 wins capped by a Sugar Bowl victory on New Year's Day.

The school announced the extension Tuesday, two months after athletic director Mack Rhoades had said there was a verbal agreement to amend the coach's contract. The private school does not disclose specific contract terms.

Aranda is 14-9 in his two seasons at Baylor, where he is a head coach for the first time. The 45-year-old Aranda was coming off an undefeated national championship as LSU's defensive coordinator when he got a six-year contract in January 2020 after Matt Rhule left the Bears to become coach of the NFL's Carolina Panthers.

Baylor went 2-7 in Aranda's first season, but that came after he wasn't even able to have spring practices with his new team because of the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bears were much improved on defense and had a new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes in 2021. They made it to the Big 12 title game for the second time in three seasons, beating Oklahoma State this time and then going on to defeat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl.

___

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25