Aranda Agreement, A 'Vital Step' In LSU's Pursuit of Excellence

BATON ROUGE - LSU Defensive Coordinator Dave Aranda's excellence on and off the field was rewarded with a three-year commitment from LSU that also names him associate head coach. The agreement was considered an important building block in LSU's goal to return to consistent national prominence under new head coach Ed Orgeron.

Aranda's new deal is pending approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors.

“We are pleased to have the best defensive coordinator in all of college football with us at LSU,” said Orgeron who first announced the agreement Sunday night. “Dave is an outstanding, coach, teacher and man. We are fortunate to have him as an LSU Tiger.”

“My family loves Baton Rouge,” said Aranda. “We are excited to build on what we've started. LSU is a special place. Our outstanding student-athletes, the passion of our fans, the first class facilities and the commitment to excellence from the administration makes LSU one of the premier programs in college football and I'm thrilled to be part of it.”

Reiterating his message that LSU Football is in a "relentless pursuit of excellence on and off the field," Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva said Coach Orgeron made it clear from day one that Aranda was going to be a cornerstone of success of the football program and making a strong commitment to him was a "vital step" in that process. Alleva said details of the agreement were worked out in short order while Aranda worked tirelessly on the recruiting trail.

“We believe Coach Aranda is the best defensive coordinator in the country," said Alleva. “We wanted to make sure he came home to an agreement that was fitting of the best.”

Alleva said Aranda is looking forward to coaching alongside Coach Orgeron and made it clear that he has a true passion for LSU football.

The agreement with Aranda runs through March 31, 2020, and includes a first-year salary of $1.8 million, followed by $1.85 million and $1.9 million respectively without any change to Aranda's current bonus structure. His buyout options are 40 percent of his remaining guaranteed base and supplemental salary if he accepts a non-head coaching position within 500 miles of Baton Rouge and 15 percent if outside of 500 miles. After Dec. 1, 2019, there is no buyout provision.

In just his first year as defensive coordinator at LSU and while instituting a new scheme, Aranda built a defense defined by its toughness, discipline and passion finishing the regular season ranked sixth in the nation in scoring defense giving up just 16.7 points per game and only 1.5 touchdowns per game.

Before his first year at LSU, Aranda guided Top 10 defenses at Wisconsin for three years which combined ranked among the top 5 in the nation in the four major defensive categories – scoring, total yards, passing yards and rushing yards.

Before Wisconsin, Aranda spent the 2012 season at Utah State where he helped the Aggies to a school record 11 wins (2 losses). He oversaw an Aggies defense that ranked eighth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 15.4 points per game. Before Utah State, he was at Hawaii where his defense led the nation in turnovers.

Aranda graduated from California Lutheran in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 2002, he earned his master's degree in interdisciplinary studies at Texas Tech.

Aranda and his wife, Dione, have two daughters, Jaelyn and Jordyn, and a son, Ronin.