Dave Aranda is finally out at Baylor. Naturally, I was on the road when it happened. I covered the Oklahoma State-Colorado game on Saturday.
So, my job in these situations is usually to put together the job board — the coaches who could be called to replace him at season’s end. But you’ve probably seen all the Baylor coaching candidate lists by this point, so there isn’t much point in giving you another one.
So, we pivot.
Here are six names I’ve seen connected to the Baylor job, why I don’t think five of them will be the hire and the one I believe WILL be the Bears’ next head coach come December.
Mike Gundy: The Big 12 Retread
If the Bears want Big 12 credibility, here’s your guy.
Mike Gundy won 170 games at Oklahoma State. He led the Cowboys to a Big 12 title and two Big 12 Championship Games. They went to a bowl game in 18 straight seasons. Plus, Baylor gets to play Oklahoma State next season. You don’t think Gundy would want to stick it to his alma mater?
Plus, he coached at Baylor in 1996. Fun fact.
Now, here’s the question I have: Is Gundy ready to embrace NIL and the transfer portal? Because I don’t think he fully embraced either at Oklahoma State. It’s a big reason the Cowboys went 4-20 in the two seasons before Eric Morris took over.
Is Gundy also ready to get with the times offensively? Because the offensive schemes he was running at Oklahoma State toward the end had gotten stale.
I think the Bears will believe they can do better.
Lincoln Riley: I Have My Doubts
Lincoln Riley was connected to the Baylor job almost immediately.
I have my doubts that he wants to leave USC for Baylor. Now, USC may WANT him to leave, and that’s a different conversation. But I’m not sure Riley is looking for a soft landing in Waco.
Riley is 41-20 at USC since taking over. That view of the Brazos River hits a little differently than the Pacific Ocean.
Should the Trojans be better than they are right now? Absolutely.
But Riley is coaching on a contract that pays him at least $10 million per year and reportedly comes with a massive buyout. Aranda is also due millions from Baylor.
Why does that impact Baylor? Because if Baylor wants to lure Riley away from USC, the Bears would likely have to fork over serious money to make it happen. If USC fires Riley — which still sounds insane — that’s a much different conversation for Baylor.
That’s why I don’t think he’s coming to Waco.
Joey McGuire: Dream On
A friend of mine texted me while I was driving back from Stillwater and said McGuire would be a great fit for the Bears because of his ties to the school.
Yeah, he coached there from 2017-21, and that helped pave his way to Texas Tech. But that’s about as far as it goes.
It seems ludicrous to me that McGuire would even entertain leaving the best-resourced football program in the Big 12 for another school in the conference.
It might make more of a difference if he were a Baylor graduate (he’s a UT-Arlington alum) or a Waco native (he’s from Texarkana). Unless someone out there knows something I don’t, he’s not budging.
But dreams are good. They exercise the brain.
GJ Kinne: Too Soon
GJ Kinne is the son of a former high school football coach and threw for nearly 12,000 yards as a prep player. He starred at Tulsa before moving into coaching.
He became Incarnate Word’s head coach — succeeding current Oklahoma State coach Eric Morris — and then took over at Texas State for the 2023 season.
Kinne is going to get a power-conference job at some point. He’s led Texas State to three straight bowl wins, but the Bobcats are only 3-3 in their first year in the Pac-12 Conference.
The timing just doesn’t feel right.
Jason Eck: The Intriguing Riser
If you don’t pay attention to New Mexico football, you’re missing out.
Jason Eck is a rising star who isn’t afraid to ruffle some feathers and will straight-talk you every week during his press conference. I guarantee you he will never appreciate your question quite the way Aranda does.
He’s also a really good football coach.
Eck led Idaho to three straight FCS playoff berths before taking over at New Mexico in 2025 and immediately turning the Lobos into winners. New Mexico won nine games and finished tied for first place in the Mountain West, recording its first winning season since 2016.
Now, the Lobos are 5-1 and undefeated in conference play.
He’s going to be on everyone’s hot list. But he’s a Wisconsin native with no obvious ties to Baylor or the state of Texas, much like Aranda and his predecessor, Matt Rhule, when they were hired.
Baylor may not want to go that direction again.
Jeff Traylor: My Pick to Be Baylor’s Next Head Coach
If I’m Baylor, I make Jeff Traylor say no.
He has just about everything the Bears should be looking for. He’s successful as a head coach, with a 58-27 record at UTSA. He’s a Texas native, born in Gilmer. And he has Texas high school football bona fides similar to McGuire.
Traylor won three state championships at Gilmer and even coached Kinne. He was Joey McGuire before Joey McGuire was Joey McGuire, if you know what I mean.
Most importantly, Traylor WANTS to be in the state of Texas. He spent two years at Arkansas before eventually taking the UTSA job.
I personally think the Texas job is the one he truly wants. But Texas isn’t hiring him straight out of UTSA. He’ll likely need to prove he can succeed at a power-conference job before the Longhorns would seriously entertain that possibility if the job ever opened.
Baylor would be a great next step for him.
And I think he would be a great fit for Baylor.
If he’s perfectly happy at UTSA, then cool.
But if I’m Baylor, I make him say no.
Several times.
