SAN ANTONIO, TX – Dave Aranda is a film buff. He loves movies. He uses them as references in conversations and interviews, and his Bears routinely watch movies with handpicked messages so he can relay points to his team in a creative way. In a world of alpha dogs, Aranda is an interesting cat. 

Aranda, who communicates in analogies and metaphors on a regular basis, was back at it during his 20-minute press conference at the Texas High School Coaching Associations convention over the weekend in San Antonio. The head coach at Baylor loves Disney movies and is obsessed with the difference between what is and what should be. He’d rather operate in the world as it should be, hence the love for Disney and the dislike of the transfer portal and pay-for-play that now dominates the sport’s offseason conversations. 

Aranda led Baylor to the Big 12 championship and a Sugar Bowl victory in Year 2. He then balked at utilizing in the transfer portal heading into 2022 and shied away from paying players large sums of money heading into 2023. The result was consecutive losing seasons and a hot seat ahead of 2024. Aranda evolved. His Bears used the portal to land stalwarts such as quarterback Sawyer Robertson and linebacker Keaton Thomas. His assistant coaches were photographed wearing “We Pay Players” shirts during practice. 

But that doesn’t mean Aranda likes the current climate of college football and the transactional nature of relationships in the modern landscape. When asked about his fears and if they’ve materialized over the last couple of seasons, Aranda relied on a movie reference. This time, however, it was not from a Disney film. 

“There is a scene in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ where they’re talking about throwing midgets,” Aranda said. “They go, ‘can he roll there?’, and he goes, ‘no, he doesn’t roll. You throw him. They’re made for throwing.’ After a while, they realize that the midgets might know that they’re making fun of them and they might get mad so ‘we need to make them feel like one of us.’ And they go, ‘One of us! One of us!.’ 

“I think that is the thing with coaching. Recruiting is that way. They talk about acquiring players, getting rid of players, just like that. The whole thing underneath all that is that they make them feel like one of us. But I don’t know, do you have to do that to win? That sucks.” 

Questionable word choice aside, Aranda is right. Coaches treating prospective players like cattle isn’t new, of course, but the portal and money spent on personnel makes the relationship between player, coach, and program more complicated than ever. Some of it is good. Some of it is bad. The players deserved a cut of the pie. But the revolving door and misuse of NIL as pay-for-play has created an environment that’s not conducive with why fans love the sport so much. 

Aranda and is his unique style are good for the sport. Not every head coach needs to fit into the same cookie-cutter mold of tough guy general who leads with an iron fist. He’s more philosopher than drill instructor. More monk than soldier. Aranda’s nickname growing up was “Fencepost” because his peers at school said he just stood there. He typically only eats one meal a day. He drinks enough caffeine to kill a hippo. He broke into the profession as a GA at Texas Tech and one of his jobs was to drive Mike Leach around on recruiting visits. Can you imagine those conversations? 

Aranda was almost not the coach at Baylor in 2025. His Bears started 2-4 and were a loss in Texas Tech away from possibly relieving him of his duties with a loss in Lubbock. Instead, Baylor won in blowout fashion and didn’t lose again until the bowl game. His squad enters 2025 as a Big 12 favorite because of an experienced offense and improved personnel on defense. 

The sport should want him to succeed if for no other reason than to prove there is more than one way to be a great head coach. He wasn’t the prom king or the star quarterback. He won’t win many press conferences. He views football through an almost scientific-like lens and he never wanted to be a head coach. But now that he is, he wants to do it differently. 

“Something that is easily bought is easily sold,” Aranda said. “We weren’t winning the Disney way. (We had) to get way aggressive in acquiring talent and get a little wet and I’m not comfortable with it but you have to try to build up (the roster), have your integrity, and find a balance. I’m still trying to do that.”