Big 12 Football: 3 schools AAC would love to add the most
Baylor
The Baylor Bears are a lot like the Kansas Jayhawks in terms of the conversation of appeal to other power conferences in the midst of this latest round of realignment discussion. Baylor has one of the strongest men’s basketball programs in the entire country at the moment, under the direction of head coach Scott Drew.
But the football program has found nothing but inconsistency and confusion in recent years. The end of the era for Art Briles left the program shrouded in scandal, and former head coach Matt Rhule helped to restore a lot of the pride it once held. But the departure of Rhule a couple of years ago to become the Carolina Panthers head coach in the NFL didn’t help Baylor at all.
There are a lot of question marks as to how second-year head coach Dave Aranda will fare over the long haul. Baylor didn’t get off to a strong start under Aranda, winning just two games last season (with the only victory in conference play coming over lowly Kansas).
The good news for the Bears here is that Rhule didn’t get off to a strong start either, but strong player development and recruiting eventually lifted the program to greater heights. The same might be able to be said for Aranda shortly.
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What Baylor also brings to the table that would really appeal to a conference like the AAC would be a growing baseball program, nationally contending women’s basketball program, and a willingness to invest in all athletics that is hard to match for other private schools. Baylor is also a prestigious academic institution, much like that of TCU.