Baylor Football: Can Bears maintain momentum under new coach in 2020?

After dream season in 2019, can Baylor football remain Big 12 title contenders under new coaching staff and roster turnover?

Not many people saw last season’s explosion from Baylor football on the horizon. The program was still recovering from the horrible scandal under former head coach Art Briles and many around the country were unsure if the Bears would ever recover and get back to contending for Big 12 titles like were doing.

When Baylor hired Matt Rhule in 2017, he gave the program hope because Rhule was known for being a tough-minded coach that was used to having to build backup programs and he had done just that in his time at Temple.

Rhule went 1-11 during his first season in Waco and then improved the Bears by six wins and finished the 2018 season with a 7-6 record. He then saw the program he envisioned when he arrived come to life in 2019, with Baylor going 11-1 in the regular season and were one win away from making the College Football Playoff.

Rhule then moved on to the NFL and took defensive coordinator Phil Snow with him.

After Rhule’s departure, Baylor decided to hire LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to take over the program and he made an interesting hire by bringing in Larry Fedora as the offensive coordinator.

Feodra is of course known for being the head coach at North Carolina and at one time, he was thought to be one of the brightest offensive minds in the sport. Aranda is known to be one of the best defensive minds in the game and he will have his work cut out for him this season, as the  majority of what was the top defense in the Big 12 is now gone.

Aranda also has a reputation to be a successful recruiter and that will be key in the state of Texas and if Baylor hopes to stay contending for years.

This will be a bit of a rebuilding year of sorts for Baylor, but they have a bright future with this coaching staff.