By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Welcome to another edition of Single Digit Flashback. Playing off Baylor’s popular tradition of awarding numbers 0-9 to those deserving players who have become leaders on the team, we have our 10 thoughts about anything that is related to Baylor and may not be related to Baylor.
Her voice was one of kind. It’s hard to compare Whitney Houston’s voice to anyone else because of its extraordinary blend range, power and control.
She had it all. When Houston burst on to the music scene in 1985, it will be known as the ultimate burst.
From 1985 through 1988 she became the only singer ever to have seven consecutive No. 1 hits. When Clive Davis found her, he made probably the biggest talent discovery ever known. While subjective, many in the music industry also considered Houston to be the greatest singer ever. The great Tony Bennett said it.
It’s hard to argue the point. The native of Newark, N.J. could stir the emotion of anyone who listened to her.
The RJB won’t go into a full biography. But by now, some of you probably understand where substance abuse eventually engulfed her life and robbed her of her talent. Eventually, it took her from us at the way-too-early age of 48 back in 2012 (Hard to believe it’s been nine years).
There are so many of Houston’s hits to consider for this week’s selection. Yet the RJB’s favorite goes back to the 1992 thriller The Bodyguard. It was Houston’s acting debut and it was a really bad movie. Really bad.
Her soundtrack, though, saved the film from total humiliation. Of course, she won a grammy for the cover of Dolly Parton’s I will always love you.
The RJB chose the other smash I have nothing. When you listen, you’ll appreciate that range, that power and that control. Nearly 30 years after it was released, the RJB still gets the goose bumps listening to it.
>0. A couple of items from the site as we go through this bye week. For starters, we’ll keep the first half of week somewhat normal with this entry and the Big 12 Coaches Corner and commitment chart. There will be no Dave Aranda press conference on Monday. Look for the Baylor coaches to go out on the road to recruit and attend some high school games. We’ll keep you posted on that front and try to mix in a few more recruiting nuggets.
The end of the week will be quiet. Taking advantage of the bye, I used this one for the annual trip to Minnesota. I’ll be watching the Gophers take on Maryland with my cousin. Looking forward to getting up there after missing last year because of the pandemic. Always good to visit my Dad’s alma mater. The Gophers will always be a part of me. They had a nice win over Nebraska Saturday. Kudos to those of you of who picked them in Stephen’s weekly picks.
>1. Well, we’ve all seen what happened at LSU as AD Scott Woodward and head coach Ed Orgeron came to an agreement to part ways after the season. Orgeron is getting nearly $17 million to say good-bye. It’s been a mess down in Baton Rouge with roster issues, injuries and other off-the-field issues including Title IX problems that even the equity from the 2019 National Championship couldn’t shield.
So what does that mean for Baylor head coach and former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and his potential candidacy for the job? I really don’t think much at this time. He’s just into his first head coaching stint and getting his feet settled running a program. While Aranda’s second year is a 180 of his first, I just don’t think he’s “seasoned” enough for Woodward to make a push to hire him.
>2. Obviously, Aranda was a pretty solid recruiter and knows Louisiana and is a brilliant defensive mind. His calming presence could be what is needed after Coach O Chaos. That said, remember that Woodward’s track history is to go for home run hires. Loves the big names. He hired Kim Mulkey to take over his women’s basketball program. He hired Jay Johnson, who in 2021 took Arizona to the College World Series, to run his baseball program. With his golden goose football program he’s going to aim as high as he can and make big names say no. That could be Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer. That could be Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, who he hired at Texas A&M. That could be Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell. Aranda would maybe draw a call. At this point, it’s hard to see him really one of the top tier candidates.
>3. Now, if Aranda continues to build something at Baylor and put this program at a Big 12 championship contender, then he could be the guy who follows the guy who followed Orgeron. With the 38-24 win over BYU, he just evened his career record at 8-8. It all feels good right now. It should. This program has performed far better than I could have anticipated. I think some of you who threw out 9-3 had some Pollyanna to it but maybe deep down you thought that was a little unrealistic. Well, that could turn out to be right. At least, I can take a measure of comfort thinking that this team was good enough to be a bowl team. I just didn’t anticipate that happening until sometime in November.
>4. But when you’re at a program like Baylor, you understand that you’re in a position that you can win big because the passion to win is strong. The financial commitment along with the push to build more and more athletic facilities qualify that. Baylor may not be a destination job - the football job is a lot different than the basketball job that Scott Drew had – but at the very least it creates the environment for any coach to be successful. It wasn’t an accident that Matt Rhule found some success shortly after the sexual assault scandal. Yet Aranda’s tenure validates that the right steward will find success. All you should want as a faithful follower is for that coach to leave the program better than how he found it.
>5. Actually, this isn’t the first time where I’ve seen Aranda’s name be mentioned for a head coaching position. About two weeks ago, I saw a story on ESPN+ where his name was connected to the USC opening. Aranda wasn’t a top choice. But his name came up as one of those down the line candidates USC could look at if the top choices were to spurn the Trojans. Keep in mind Aranda’s name was always connected to jobs when he was a DC. It’s continuing with him as a head coach. There are just those coaches who have that aura to where they will be a commodity wherever they coach. Aranda is one of those.
>6. What I find in Aranda’s tenure here is that there is a lot of authenticity to it. He wants to build a complete college program. He’s a guy that I think will coach for however he wants to at this level. In that respect, he’s a 180 from Matt Rhule. I’ve given Rhule his due because he was right man, right time for this program following the scandal. He used his strong personality to create a culture, clean out the demons from that dark time and ensured Baylor would not be a coaching graveyard. Aranda embraced some of the ideas that Rhule left behind including the single digit uniforms for team leaders. However, I’ve been up front that Aranda’s recruiting is better than Rhule’s especially in the evaluations.
Then there’s this. Aranda has beaten two ranked teams to get his program to 6-1. That’s then No. 14/14 Iowa State and No. 19/20 BYU. Rhule never beat a ranked team in his three years at Baylor including the 2019 team that went to the Sugar Bowl. Strange but true.
>7. The funny thing about this time of year is that this is when the guys with the ugly looking sports coats start to make their way to stadiums to watch teams. Yes, those are the bowl scouts. There was a Cheez It Bowl rep at McLane Stadium for Baylor-BYU. Last week, a representative from the Sugar Bowl was in town. Look for more and more of them to show up when Baylor plays host to Texas on Oct. 30. In fact, look for bowl scouts to trail the Bears for the remainder of the season now that they are assured of at least some kind of game in December.
>8. What’s your nomination for the part of this team that’s made the greatest transformation? For me, it’s the offensive line. I don’t even recognize it. Admittedly, I kept moving the line on this unit because maybe I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, we’re seven games into this season and that’s enough. With the exception of six quarters between Iowa State and Oklahoma State, this unit has flipped the script and changed its reputation. It’s moving pretty solid defensive fronts off the line of scrimmage. Baylor rushing for 303 yards against a BYU defense that allowed only 129 game and collected some of that against several PAC 12 teams is not smoke and mirrors. Give offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and offensive line coach Eric Mateos for molding and building a unit that put the nightmares of previous seasons in the deep freeze. And remember, Mateos was the second choice. Troy’s Ryan Pugh was named offensive line coach for less than 24 hours until it was found he wearing black face in a party around 2010. The rest is history. By the way, Pugh is the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Southern University.
>9. Note how this transformation has occurred since the spring. Grant Miller arrived from Vanderbilt in January. Jacob Gall arrived from Buffalo in June. But running back Abram Smith, who is on pace to the first Baylor 1,000-yard rusher since Terence Williams rushed for 1,048 yards in 2016, can say it better than anyone.
“Physicality,’’ Smith said. “They're really physical now, They know exactly what they can do on the field, and they got confidence behind that now. So running behind them now compared to then, I mean it's night and day. They're more physical, we're moving people, and we’re getting yards.”
Let’s make it a great week!
Publisher
Welcome to another edition of Single Digit Flashback. Playing off Baylor’s popular tradition of awarding numbers 0-9 to those deserving players who have become leaders on the team, we have our 10 thoughts about anything that is related to Baylor and may not be related to Baylor.
Her voice was one of kind. It’s hard to compare Whitney Houston’s voice to anyone else because of its extraordinary blend range, power and control.
She had it all. When Houston burst on to the music scene in 1985, it will be known as the ultimate burst.
From 1985 through 1988 she became the only singer ever to have seven consecutive No. 1 hits. When Clive Davis found her, he made probably the biggest talent discovery ever known. While subjective, many in the music industry also considered Houston to be the greatest singer ever. The great Tony Bennett said it.
It’s hard to argue the point. The native of Newark, N.J. could stir the emotion of anyone who listened to her.
The RJB won’t go into a full biography. But by now, some of you probably understand where substance abuse eventually engulfed her life and robbed her of her talent. Eventually, it took her from us at the way-too-early age of 48 back in 2012 (Hard to believe it’s been nine years).
There are so many of Houston’s hits to consider for this week’s selection. Yet the RJB’s favorite goes back to the 1992 thriller The Bodyguard. It was Houston’s acting debut and it was a really bad movie. Really bad.
Her soundtrack, though, saved the film from total humiliation. Of course, she won a grammy for the cover of Dolly Parton’s I will always love you.
The RJB chose the other smash I have nothing. When you listen, you’ll appreciate that range, that power and that control. Nearly 30 years after it was released, the RJB still gets the goose bumps listening to it.
>0. A couple of items from the site as we go through this bye week. For starters, we’ll keep the first half of week somewhat normal with this entry and the Big 12 Coaches Corner and commitment chart. There will be no Dave Aranda press conference on Monday. Look for the Baylor coaches to go out on the road to recruit and attend some high school games. We’ll keep you posted on that front and try to mix in a few more recruiting nuggets.
The end of the week will be quiet. Taking advantage of the bye, I used this one for the annual trip to Minnesota. I’ll be watching the Gophers take on Maryland with my cousin. Looking forward to getting up there after missing last year because of the pandemic. Always good to visit my Dad’s alma mater. The Gophers will always be a part of me. They had a nice win over Nebraska Saturday. Kudos to those of you of who picked them in Stephen’s weekly picks.
>1. Well, we’ve all seen what happened at LSU as AD Scott Woodward and head coach Ed Orgeron came to an agreement to part ways after the season. Orgeron is getting nearly $17 million to say good-bye. It’s been a mess down in Baton Rouge with roster issues, injuries and other off-the-field issues including Title IX problems that even the equity from the 2019 National Championship couldn’t shield.
So what does that mean for Baylor head coach and former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and his potential candidacy for the job? I really don’t think much at this time. He’s just into his first head coaching stint and getting his feet settled running a program. While Aranda’s second year is a 180 of his first, I just don’t think he’s “seasoned” enough for Woodward to make a push to hire him.
>2. Obviously, Aranda was a pretty solid recruiter and knows Louisiana and is a brilliant defensive mind. His calming presence could be what is needed after Coach O Chaos. That said, remember that Woodward’s track history is to go for home run hires. Loves the big names. He hired Kim Mulkey to take over his women’s basketball program. He hired Jay Johnson, who in 2021 took Arizona to the College World Series, to run his baseball program. With his golden goose football program he’s going to aim as high as he can and make big names say no. That could be Jacksonville coach Urban Meyer. That could be Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, who he hired at Texas A&M. That could be Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell. Aranda would maybe draw a call. At this point, it’s hard to see him really one of the top tier candidates.
>3. Now, if Aranda continues to build something at Baylor and put this program at a Big 12 championship contender, then he could be the guy who follows the guy who followed Orgeron. With the 38-24 win over BYU, he just evened his career record at 8-8. It all feels good right now. It should. This program has performed far better than I could have anticipated. I think some of you who threw out 9-3 had some Pollyanna to it but maybe deep down you thought that was a little unrealistic. Well, that could turn out to be right. At least, I can take a measure of comfort thinking that this team was good enough to be a bowl team. I just didn’t anticipate that happening until sometime in November.
>4. But when you’re at a program like Baylor, you understand that you’re in a position that you can win big because the passion to win is strong. The financial commitment along with the push to build more and more athletic facilities qualify that. Baylor may not be a destination job - the football job is a lot different than the basketball job that Scott Drew had – but at the very least it creates the environment for any coach to be successful. It wasn’t an accident that Matt Rhule found some success shortly after the sexual assault scandal. Yet Aranda’s tenure validates that the right steward will find success. All you should want as a faithful follower is for that coach to leave the program better than how he found it.
>5. Actually, this isn’t the first time where I’ve seen Aranda’s name be mentioned for a head coaching position. About two weeks ago, I saw a story on ESPN+ where his name was connected to the USC opening. Aranda wasn’t a top choice. But his name came up as one of those down the line candidates USC could look at if the top choices were to spurn the Trojans. Keep in mind Aranda’s name was always connected to jobs when he was a DC. It’s continuing with him as a head coach. There are just those coaches who have that aura to where they will be a commodity wherever they coach. Aranda is one of those.
>6. What I find in Aranda’s tenure here is that there is a lot of authenticity to it. He wants to build a complete college program. He’s a guy that I think will coach for however he wants to at this level. In that respect, he’s a 180 from Matt Rhule. I’ve given Rhule his due because he was right man, right time for this program following the scandal. He used his strong personality to create a culture, clean out the demons from that dark time and ensured Baylor would not be a coaching graveyard. Aranda embraced some of the ideas that Rhule left behind including the single digit uniforms for team leaders. However, I’ve been up front that Aranda’s recruiting is better than Rhule’s especially in the evaluations.
Then there’s this. Aranda has beaten two ranked teams to get his program to 6-1. That’s then No. 14/14 Iowa State and No. 19/20 BYU. Rhule never beat a ranked team in his three years at Baylor including the 2019 team that went to the Sugar Bowl. Strange but true.
>7. The funny thing about this time of year is that this is when the guys with the ugly looking sports coats start to make their way to stadiums to watch teams. Yes, those are the bowl scouts. There was a Cheez It Bowl rep at McLane Stadium for Baylor-BYU. Last week, a representative from the Sugar Bowl was in town. Look for more and more of them to show up when Baylor plays host to Texas on Oct. 30. In fact, look for bowl scouts to trail the Bears for the remainder of the season now that they are assured of at least some kind of game in December.
>8. What’s your nomination for the part of this team that’s made the greatest transformation? For me, it’s the offensive line. I don’t even recognize it. Admittedly, I kept moving the line on this unit because maybe I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, we’re seven games into this season and that’s enough. With the exception of six quarters between Iowa State and Oklahoma State, this unit has flipped the script and changed its reputation. It’s moving pretty solid defensive fronts off the line of scrimmage. Baylor rushing for 303 yards against a BYU defense that allowed only 129 game and collected some of that against several PAC 12 teams is not smoke and mirrors. Give offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and offensive line coach Eric Mateos for molding and building a unit that put the nightmares of previous seasons in the deep freeze. And remember, Mateos was the second choice. Troy’s Ryan Pugh was named offensive line coach for less than 24 hours until it was found he wearing black face in a party around 2010. The rest is history. By the way, Pugh is the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at Southern University.
>9. Note how this transformation has occurred since the spring. Grant Miller arrived from Vanderbilt in January. Jacob Gall arrived from Buffalo in June. But running back Abram Smith, who is on pace to the first Baylor 1,000-yard rusher since Terence Williams rushed for 1,048 yards in 2016, can say it better than anyone.
“Physicality,’’ Smith said. “They're really physical now, They know exactly what they can do on the field, and they got confidence behind that now. So running behind them now compared to then, I mean it's night and day. They're more physical, we're moving people, and we’re getting yards.”
Let’s make it a great week!
