The Baylor Bears are giving former Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III an honest look for the school’s head football coach position, according to multiple sources on Friday.
Griffin is far and away the big name in the pile, as the 6-3 Bears, headed for No. 10 BYU as a 7.5-point underdog on Saturday, navigate the final three weeks of the regular season with interim head coach Joe Klanderman, who replaced Dave Aranda after the Kansas loss.
Baylor is slated to interview Griffin for the head coaching position soon, according to Pete Nakos of On3. Griffin’s in a circle with fellow candidates Jeff Traylor (San Antonio), G.J. Kinne (Texas State), and Spencer Danielson (Boise State).
Baylor, which remains something of a Big 12 contender with three top-25 opportunities left and six wins already on its regular-season schedule, is looking to ride the momentum of Joe Klanderman into the school’s next head coaching hire.
Griffin, who has a gold statue outside of Baylor’s McLane Stadium, brings immediate brand awareness to a football program after a long period of unsustained success. Aranda led Baylor to a Big 12 Championship and Sugar Bowl in 2021, but has largely punched well below that weight in the years since, leading to the seventh-year coach’s firing earlier this year.
Griffin suited up for Baylor one last time for a 67-56 win over Baylor in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl, the highest-scoring regulation bowl game in NCAA history. He’d win the Heisman Trophy that same year, and became just the second NFL rookie featured on a Pro Bowl roster a year later.
The Washington Redskins selected Griffin 2nd overall in the 2012 NFL Draft; he enjoyed an 8-year career across Washington, Cleveland, and Baltimore before making the switch to television and his YouTube channel.
