Baylor coach Dave Aranda is one of the most powerful speakers you’ll ever see in college sports. While other coaches jumped right into their rosters or their plans, Aranda looked inward. His opening statement was not about his team being bigger, faster, or stronger but about examining how he did his job in the era of the transfer portal.
Later, he was asked about his father, who passed away earlier this week. That story, too, was powerful. We’ve included transcripts of each exchange:
Dave Aranda:
I wanted to start this with really hard lessons from last year. I have to imagine for those of you so inclined, what happened last year, it’s one of the beautiful things about our sport is that personal comes out in the professional, and the faults of just me can — it can happen there, too. Not only the positive things but the negative things.
I look at the last year trying to save people, maybe trying to change people, and not having hard enough boundaries, and I look at the — I don’t know if it was hubris or what it was that made me think that I could, but I think people are ready to change or improve when they’re ready to, when they’re ready to do it on their own. I think that was a big factor last year.
I think the other was not using the transfer portal and not embracing it. I think one of the struggles for me has always been if you say yes to something, a player outside of your team that’s in the portal, you’re saying no to a player on your team.
I think when you bring somebody in, you almost kind of stunt the growth of that person. I think for me to kind of come to grips with hey, this is what needs to happen for the betterment of the team as opposed to just looking at what’s best for that one particular player on your team.
To say, hey, we’ve still got you, we still believe in you but this is what we need to do for the team right now has been an area of growth for me.
To take it to this year you know, to start the year really started with person over player and really focusing in on that an talking a lot about that with our team and starting that with hey, we’re talking about the whole thing, your body your mind, your heart, and your soul is to get that into an alignment and to get that to where you know yourself, you can be yourself, you can express yourself, and when it comes time to, you can check yourself. I think to see that our young people today aren’t just a cog in a machine, right, to get wins and take home revenue, but are human beings.
Media question:
First off, I just really wanted to say maybe on behalf of the media, offer my condolences on the passing of your father. Sorry that that happened. Sorry to bring it up. I wonder if you would just reflect on maybe his influence on you as a man and a coach.
Aranda:
I appreciate that. I went and saw my dad when I first heard that he had cancer, and my dad and I have always — it’s always been a great relationship. He was never really someone that would say openly, I love you. I always knew that he did, though.
I remember when he called me and told me that he had pancreatic cancer and it was stage 4, I told him that I loved him and he didn’t say it back. I don’t know if he heard me.
So I wanted to go and say it to him face to face. I was able to do that. He gave me a big hug. I don’t know, when you’re hugging and everything, you feel like, hey, this is a good hug, and he wouldn’t let me go, and he kept really strong and he told me that he loved me. I’m so glad that we had that moment because I know a lot of folks don’t have that.
Yeah, we’re going to have a celebration of his life coming up on this Sunday, and there’s going to be just so many people that are going to be there that my dad touched. Family members that didn’t know they were a part of the family, relatives that needed help that my dad was there for, and all these things, and I’m just way proud to be his son.
So I appreciate that.
Watch the Q&A about his father:
