Baylor Fires Dave Aranda After Kansas Loss and Names Klanderman Interim Coach

Baylor fired head football coach Dave Aranda on Sunday, one day after the Bears lost 25-24 at Kansas in a game that ended with a blocked field goal. The school said defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the season. Aranda, 50, was in his seventh season in Waco and leaves with a 40-40 record.

A blocked kick ends it

Kansas beat Baylor on Saturday for the first time since 2007, closing a 14-game losing streak in the series. The Bears led 21-10 after three quarters in Lawrence, then gave up the lead in the fourth quarter. Baylor drove to the Kansas 27 in the final minute and lined up a 45-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game. Blake Herold blocked the kick, and Kansas held on for its first Big 12 win of the season.

The loss was Baylor's second in a row. The Bears lost 17-6 at home to TCU on October 17, and the two defeats dropped them to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12 after a 4-1 start that included a four-game winning streak.

The school statement

Athletic director Doug McNamee announced the change in a statement released by the school. He called Aranda "a gifted coach and a brilliant football mind" whose leadership brought some of the best memories in program history. "While this is a difficult moment, we believe a change in leadership is necessary at this time for our program," McNamee said. He thanked Aranda and his family and wished them well.

A peak the Bears never matched

Aranda arrived at Baylor in 2020 after working as defensive coordinator at LSU. His second season was the high point. Baylor went 12-2 in 2021, won the Big 12 championship and beat Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, and Aranda was named the AP Big 12 Coach of the Year.

The seasons that followed never reached that level. Baylor finished 6-7 in 2022 and 3-9 in 2023, which put Aranda's job under open scrutiny two years after the title. An 8-5 finish in 2024 eased the pressure for a time. A 5-7 record in 2025 brought the questions back, and Aranda ends his tenure with one winning season in the four years after the championship run. His bowl record at Baylor was 1-2.

The reset that did not hold

Baylor reshaped the staff and the roster for this season. Klanderman was hired from Kansas State to run the defense, and quarterback DJ Lagway, a Texas native, transferred in from Florida to lead the offense. The early results were good. Klanderman's defense held each of Baylor's first six opponents to 20 points or fewer, and the Bears won four straight games after an opening stretch that left them 4-1. The TCU and Kansas losses undid that start in eight days.

What comes next

Klanderman, a veteran defensive coordinator who spent seven seasons at Kansas State before joining Baylor this year, takes over on a short week. Baylor plays at UCF on Friday, October 30, and UCF enters the game off a 39-31 double overtime win over BYU on Saturday. The Bears have five regular season games left and need two wins to reach bowl eligibility.