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The Background That Shapes Dave Aranda, Baylor's New Head Coach

Dave Aranda misses the tamales. While others feast on the usual American holiday treats—turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes and green been casserole—Aranda and his family ate tamales. And a lot of them. “It’s weird having Christmas without tamales,” he says in an interview last month with Sports Illustrated. “I would be crushing tamales throughout the lead up to Christmas.”

Baylor’s new head football coach is unique in many ways. Aranda was one of the most unusual longtime defensive coordinators in college football—quiet and cerebral, not a yeller or screamer. He never even played college football, and he originally wanted to enlist in the Navy.