LSU Football: Why Dave Aranda likely won’t land in Baton Rouge

Former LSU football defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has suddenly become a hot name in the college football world.

Aranda, who was LSU’s defensive coordinator from 2016-2019, left Baton Rouge in early 2020 to become the head coach at Baylor.

The California native’s first season with the Bears was a bit of a struggle. Aranda went 2-7 last year in his debut season. A lot of those struggles can be attributed to taking over a new program in the midst of a pandemic.

In 2021, Aranda has displayed immediate improvement, leading Baylor to an 8-2 record so far this season, including a win against No. 8 Oklahoma this past weekend.

Baylor’s performance against the Sooners solidified Aranda as a legitimate target for top programs searching for a head coach.

If LSU football misses on their top targets, could Dave Aranda be an option?

Aranda likely isn’t near the top of LSU’s wish list to replace Orgeron. The top names in this search are coaches like Lincoln Riley and Jimbo Fisher.

But if a couple of those top options say no, Aranda could quickly become a popular name.

I think it’s a longshot, however, that Aranda lands in Baton Rouge.

For one, I think he’d take the USC job over the LSU job. Aranda is a low-key coach from Southern California. His personality is a much better fit at USC than it is at LSU.

Another reason I think Aranda wouldn’t go to LSU is because Ed Orgeron and the Tigers were looking to move on from him after the 2019 season.

Orgeron made numerous comments after Aranda left Baton Rouge about how much better the Tigers were on defense entering the 2020 season (that turned out to be false). At that time, it certainly felt like Aranda’s contributions to LSU weren’t appreciated.

Did that leave a sour taste in Aranda’s mouth?

It’s hard to know for sure. But either way, I just don’t think Aranda covets the LSU job. He’s a peculiar guy who is very cerebral in his approach. He knows if he doesn’t win a national championship within a couple of years at LSU that he’d be fired. Why take that risk when he could stay at Baylor or head to the west coast?

Things could change, but I just don’t see Aranda at LSU in 2022.