Last October, in a room underneath McLane Stadium, Baylor football coach Dave Aranda took to the podium after a 31-24 win over Texas.

While a win over the Longhorns is always cause for celebration among the green and gold faithful, Aranda didn’t exult. He might not have even cracked a smile. That’s not the Aranda way.

What is, however, is the type of answer that he gave to the most innocuous of questions. How, a reporter asked, have the Bears been so good at preventing big plays on defense?

“We call that, like, the Berenstain Bears search,” Aranda said without a hint of irony. “There’s a Berenstain Bears book, ‘Old Hat, New Hat,’ where he wants a new hat, Papa Berenstain Bear. And he’s trying all these hats on. It’s like, too tight, too loose, too colorful. Right? Too shiny. And he finally puts on his old hat. So that’s what that was.”

Naturally.

The reporters laughed, of course, because nobody in the wide, wide world of sports would’ve ever seen a Berenstain Bears analogy coming in a postgame news conference from a Texas college football coach. But Aranda plows right on ahead, the professor making his point. This was not a performance, akin to the answers by one of Aranda’s old bosses, Mike Leach. It wasn’t intended to entertain, but rather to make a point, a mantra for the soft-spoken coach and all of his coaches and players.

It’s always best to simply be who you are. Even if you’re a bit startled by the response, like when you compare your coaching philosophy to illustrated bears.

“I knew, but I didn’t know, how different I was,” Aranda said. “You live up in your head. So when you do talk, and you let it be known where you’re at, what you’re thinking and you have that kind of disconnection, that can be quite scary.”

That’s why Aranda is here in his office in Waco, and not at LSU or any of the other openings where he drew interest this offseason after a 12-2 season, a Big 12 championship, Baylor’s first Sugar Bowl victory since 1957 and a No. 5 ranking in the final poll. It’s why he signed a contract extension through 2029 to remain in Waco.

Because, he says, a place like Baylor is where Dave Aranda can be exactly who he is.

IN JANUARY 2020, while serving as defensive coordinator, Aranda helped Ed Orgeron, Joe Burrow and LSU win a national championship. That week, Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades called Aranda to gauge his interest in the Bears’ head-coaching vacancy following the departure of Matt Rhule for the Carolina Panthers.

Rhoades was on vacation in New Mexico and called Aranda from a closet in the Sierra Blanca airport near Ruidoso. As he made the short flight back to Waco, he couldn’t stop thinking about the conversation.

“I just remember getting off the phone with him going, ‘Wow, I like him a lot more than what I anticipated,'” Rhoades said. “Why did I like him more than what I thought I was going to? And why did I connect with him? I think it was his authenticity, but it was also his viewpoint of Baylor through his lens and how he saw himself as a great fit. That was somewhat unique in terms of the way he explained that and laid that out. What it made me realize is that he understood not every place was for him.”

Aranda could afford to be choosy. He was the nation’s highest-paid assistant coach, making $2.5 million a year, and coming off a national championship. But the noise around the program during his time at LSU, from Les Miles’ firing to Ed Orgeron’s bravado, along with the pressure to win, had forced Aranda into a bunker mentality.

“I felt when I was (at LSU) that I was like a machine,” Aranda said, adding he purposefully kept a dark office with big screens to break down tape, so he could just stay in his world. “I didn’t really talk, and it got to the point where I was there long enough to where people kind of understood that and they would protect me or shield me from talking and then it just became worse. I would remove myself a lot. I just wouldn’t engage, more than anything.”

Despite LSU’s record breaking offense being the story of the national championship season, Dave Aranda’s played a huge part in the Tigers claiming the programs fourth title. Photo by Dan Sanger/Icon Sportswire

The rub, of course, is that to be a head coach, you have to talk. Aranda said that’s what propelled him to seek out the Baylor job. It wasn’t for the power. Or the money. It was to force himself to change, he said, for the sake of his children.

“My oldest girl, Jaelyn, and my youngest, my son Ronin, they have whatever I have,” Aranda said, speaking about his introverted nature. “I could see them becoming me, becoming a scientist. You know, ‘Hey, give it to Dave to figure it out, put him in the corner.’ I just didn’t want that for them. I could see them becoming me, so that made me mad that I was modeling that for them. That was a big reason for wanting to try to move.”

This is the essence of the Aranda experience, according to those around him. He’s a seeker, a learner, and always trying to expand his mind.

“I loved who Dave was and what he stood for,” said former Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, who hired Aranda at Utah State and took him to Madison. “He was always searching for just one more way to find an advantage. One thing I’ll never forget about him … never in my life have I called a coach [who played the upcoming opponent] from their game the week before. He would always call. Dave didn’t care if somebody said ‘no’ or ‘I don’t want to talk to you or whatever.’ It was amazing the information that he would come back with.”

He felt comfortable talking football with other coaches. But being the face of a program, a university, dealing with boosters, reporters and an entire staff of employees? That seemed out of character, even to his own daughter. When he told Jaelyn that he was going to interview at Baylor, she said, “Papa, are you sure you want to do that?”

“She said ‘No, don’t do it!,’ Aranda said, laughing. “She was scared for me. And I was kind of scared too.”

That wouldn’t come as a surprise to one of Aranda’s earliest and most trusted mentors, Dr. Jerry Lynch, an acclaimed sports psychologist who has written 13 books on coaching and leadership and whose teachings have heavily influenced Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr, among many others.

Lynch, like Rhoades, found himself drawn to Aranda, despite him being a young, unknown coach at a small school.

Aranda grew up in Redlands, California, the son of Paul and Marguerite, Mexican immigrants from Guadalajara, and did not play college football after suffering multiple injuries in high school while playing linebacker — including fracturing his shoulder in a game against powerhouse Mater Dei and playing the remainder of the game with his arm pinned to his side.

His love and loss of football set him adrift. He tried to join the Navy, but the lingering shoulder issues caused him to fail a physical. He was working the night shift as a security guard at a truck stop and coaching the junior varsity defense at his former high school when he decided to visit a friend at Cal Lutheran, a Division III school about 100 miles west of Redlands and about 40 miles north up the coast from Los Angeles. Cal Lu had a reputation as a place for gym rats, though it did not offer scholarships. He decided to try and rekindle his playing days, but his shoulder wouldn’t cooperate.

He was, however, given a chance to become a student assistant, and Aranda relished the opportunity to focus on ball, as he says, where he felt most comfortable. He began seeking out coaches to talk shop. Anyone, anywhere. He became enamored with Lynch’s book, “Thinking Body, Dancing Mind,” and cold-called Lynch in 2001 to ask if he could make the 300-mile journey from Southern California to Santa Cruz to meet with him.

Lynch said he doesn’t typically do a lot of 1-on-1 meetings, because his consultancy often includes work with entire teams. Lynch said in the past 30 years, through his company, Way of Champions, he has worked with teams that have made 54 Final Fours and won 36 national championships in college and the pros.

“There was something about Dave when he contacted me,” Lynch said. “I felt, through his words, a sense of being genuine, authentic and vulnerable. Those are the three keys that attract me to people. It’s almost like, OK, I don’t want to let this opportunity go by so I saw it as an opportunity for me to learn about this young man.”

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The two spent three days walking on the beach, talking about their shared interest in Eastern thought, Tao and Zen lessons. Now, more than 20 years later, the two have a shared kinship. Aranda is a rising star in the coaching profession and just wrote the foreword to Lynch’s newest book, “Everyday Champion Wisdom.” Lynch compared Aranda to two of his most accomplished collaborators.

“So many football coaches, they get into the arena and they get their opportunity and they feel they’ve got to scream, yell, walk up and down the sideline, do all these things to motivate,” Lynch said. “You don’t motivate people. The motivation comes from inside. Dave knows that. He knows it comes from inside. What he does is he creates the environment which allows that motivation inside to come out where people are not afraid. They’re not afraid to fail. Steve Kerr creates the environment. Phil Jackson creates the environment. These are safe environments where people can be who they need to be in order to perform at the highest levels. That’s it in a nutshell.”

Baylor middle linebacker Dillon Doyle has his own theory about why Aranda has been successful.

“I think if anybody asked a group of people who wants to be a head coach, I’m not sure Dave Aranda would raise his hand,” Doyle said. “It’s like Plato’s ‘Republic.’ Sometimes the best ruler for a kingdom is the one that doesn’t want to be a ruler.”

THE HEAD COACH is quoting the Berenstain Bears and the middle linebacker is citing classical Greek philosophers.

“Hey, welcome to Baylor,” Bears defensive line coach Dennis Johnson said, laughing.

This is Johnson’s seventh year working alongside Aranda, beginning at LSU, then making the leap to Waco, and enduring a brutal 2020 season in which the Bears’ season opener was canceled three times due to COVID before they limped to a 2-7 record.

He knew Aranda would turn it around, though, because he said he always has a bigger picture in mind. Johnson recalled sitting next to Aranda in New Orleans right after they won that national championship at LSU, and still marveling at his coach’s reaction.

“Right after the game, everybody’s excited, I walk in and he’s sitting in his locker,” Johnson said. “And he was like, ‘That’s it?’ I mean, we just won a national championship. To him, it had to be more. There’s more to be gained. I believe it’s what led him to Baylor.”

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CLEVELAND — Johnny Cueto has been an inspiration on a team that has inspired few this season.

On Saturday night in Cleveland, the 36-year-old right-hander gave yet another invigorating performance, throwing 8 2/3 innings in a 2-0 White Sox victory against former Cy Young winner Shane Bieber.

The result pulled the Sox (62-59) within 2 1/2 games of the American League Central-leading Guardians (64-56). The Sox also gained ground on the second-place Twins, who lost.

Cueto allowed five hits and one walk while striking out two. He threw 113 pitches, lowering his ERA to 2.58.

In a pitching battle that was worth the two-hour, 55-minute wait to start caused by rain, Bieber (9-6, 3.10 ERA) allowed two runs (one earned) in 6 1/3 innings.

Cueto made his 10th straight quality start, exiting with two outs in the ninth after he retired Andres Gimenez on an infield pop fly with Josh Naylor on first.

“He was clutch for us,” manager Tony La Russa said.

Liam Hendriks faced one batter, striking out Oscar Gonzalez for his 19th consecutive save.

“He said he was good, so give him a chance,” La Russa said of Cueto starting the ninth, but he wasn’t going to face Gonzalez, who had two line drives and a walk against him.

“It’s worth paying just to watch him,” La Russa said. “He’s so damn smart.”

Cueto (6-5), who took a 2.78 ERA into the game, allowed just two runners in scoring position, and Bieber, whose ERA was 3.18 going in, wasn’t scored on until Jose Abreu cleared center fielder Myles Straw’s head with a double that drove in Luis Robert (leadoff single) from first in the sixth.

Elvis Andrus collected his first hit with the Sox, a single, and scored his first run in the seventh. He advanced to second on a throw home from center fielder Myles Straw that resulted in Yasmani Grandal getting thrown out — and injured — easily for the first out of the seventh. Andrus stole third and scored on Josh Harrison’s short fly ball when right fielder Will Benson’s throw home skipped away.

Grandal, who injured his left knee, was on crutches and will be evaluated. Catcher Carlos Perez is expected to take his place on the active roster Sunday.

Despite the loss of Grandal, it was a good bounce-back win for the Sox, who lost the first game of the series 5-2 on Friday. They broke a three-game losing streak.

“I just think if you’re not strong-minded and strong-hearted, then you’re in the wrong place,” La Russa said after that defeat. “So, we get even [Saturday].”

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CLEVELAND — White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal was helped off the field after an unsuccessful attempt to score from second on Elvis Andrus’ single in the seventh inning.

Grandal, one of the slowest runners in the game, was waved home by third base coach Joe McEwing on Andrus’ first hit in a Sox uniform. Center fielder Myles Straw’s throw home was off the mark but catcher Luke Maile had to lunge on the infield side of the third base line to Grandal, who was hurt trying to avoid the tag.

Grandal lay on the dirt clutching his left knee.

There were no outs when Grandal was waved home by McEwing.

Andrus advanced to second on the throw, stole third and scored on Josh Harrison’s short fly ball when right fielder Will Benson’s throw bounced off Maile’s helmet. Harrison did not attempt to tag but alertly dashed home when the ball skipped away, giving the Sox a 2-0 lead.

Grandal, who has been struggling at the plate, singled against Shane Bieber and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Seby Zavala, one of two Sox catchers on the 40-man roster with Grandal, took over behind the plate.

Johnny Cueto held the Guardians scoreless through seven innings.

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Willson Contreras enhanced his credentials as one of the top free agents-to-be Saturday.

He became the first catcher in Cubs history to hit at least 20 home runs in a season four times and capped his performance with an RBI single with two outs in the 11th inning to give the team a wild 6-5 victory against the Brewers. It was the Cubs’ fifth victory in a row.

But Contreras’ heroics might not have been possible without the all-around performance of Nico Hoerner, who seems to be immune to the speculation the Cubs will seek one of many free-agent shortstops this winter.

Hoerner, with some help from resurgent second baseman Nick Madrigal, made three dazzling defensive plays that raise the question of whether the Cubs might be better-served by earmarking their offseason spending to other positions.

”I don’t think Nico Hoerner gets enough credit in the [National] League and Major League Baseball,” said right-hander Marcus Stroman, whose 7? innings of two-hit ball immediately went for naught when reliever Rowan Wick yielded a two-run homer to Willy Adames, the first batter he faced.

”What he’s been doing is pretty incredible. He’s playing every day, doesn’t give away a single at-bat, [is] incredible defensively. He’s making plays to shift momentum and getting me out of big-time jams.”

Hoerner, stationed in shallow right, ranged toward the foul line and made a strong throw to nail Christian Yelich in the third. He turned a potential hit by Jonathan Davis into a double play in the fourth by ranging quickly to his right and throwing off his back foot to second, where Madrigal made a strong throw to first. Hoerner then leaped to catch a line drive by Luis Urias to end the sixth.

”He’s truly special,” Stroman said. ”He’s definitely someone you want to build around.”

Hoerner, 25, is simply living up to his billing as the Cubs’ first pick in the 2018 draft. Even after an 0-for-4 performance, Hoerner is batting .296 with 14 stolen bases. He also was a plus-12 in defensive runs saved entering play Saturday, according to Fangraphs.

Yet the Cubs might look to add more experience from a pool of free-agent shortstops that includes Carlos Correa (if he opts out of his current contract), Dansby Swanson, Trea Turner and Xander Bogaerts.

Such a signing could move Hoerner to second base, but Madrigal has received rave reviews from his teammates, especially after his second consecutive three-hit game. He also has a 44-game errorless streak.

”Nick turns [the double play] as well as anyone I’ve played with,” Hoerner said.

Madrigal is hitting .348 in 13 games since returning from a groin injury.

”We’re both players establishing ourselves at this level,” Hoerner said. ”The only thing we can continue to do is play well. What the Cubs do in free agency this offseason, if they make moves that are going to help us win games, that’s not going to be a huge issue around here.

”Obviously, I believe in myself as a shortstop. I’ve said that for a while, andpeople believe that now. If we have the issue of having too many good players, I like that problem.”

Outfielder Ian Happ caused some havoc by breaking from third immediately after Yelich made a catch in shallow left in the 10th. When he dropped the ball while transferring it from his glove to his hand, Happ scored to tie the game 4-4.

”I took off to at least draw a throw, and when the ball hit the ground, I was gone,” Happ said.

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