Dave Aranda has been a hot name in the coaching rumor circles the past couple of years. He has been bandied about as a possible head coach and last year interviewed with the Green Bay Packers.
On Friday, the Wisconsin defensive coordinator left the Badgers for the same position with LSU.
Wouldn't trade a thing for those 3years I learned from you... #ThanksCoachAranda
— Chikwe Obasih (@Big_Cheeks34) January 2, 2016
Nothing but Respect for Coach Aranda and the job he has done here at UW. He's made me into a better player and person. #BeatLSU
— Vince Biegel (@VinceBiegel) January 2, 2016
LSU recently lost its defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele, who was hired last year, to Auburn. Aranda also interviewed for that position last year.
According to the USA assistant coaches salary database, Steele earned over $1 million at LSU this season while Aranda was slightly over $500,000, so he likely received a very hefty pay raise in moving from the Badgers to the SEC school.
Orgiinally brought to Wisconsin by Gary Andersen, for whom he coached with at Utah State, Aranda was retained by Paul Chryst as defensive coordinator upon his hiring. And for good reason.
"This is a great hire for us," LSU head coach Les Miles said in a release. "Dave has an outstanding track record of producing some of the best defenses in college football. We've seen him up close and understand how difficult it is to have success against him."
Now Wisconsin will get to find out as well as the Badgers open the 2016 season against LSU in Lambeau Field.
For Chryst, the glow of winning the Holiday Bowl lasted all of two days. Now he has to find a new defensive coordinator. His DC at Pittsburgh was Matt House, who was the defensive coordinator at Florida International this past year. FIU was 86th in the nation in point allowed per game at 29.8.
