Aranda hired by LSU
Dave Aranda jumped on an offer from LSU head coach Les Miles
Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has taken the same position at Louisiana State, according to a release from the University.
Aranda spent the previous three seasons at Wisconsin, first arriving in Madison along with then-head coach Gary Andersen in 2013. The Badgers finished with Top-10 defenses in each of his three seasons as the coordinator, and are currently second in the country in scoring defense behind only Alabama.
Aranda turned down an offer from Andersen to follow him to Oregon State for the 2014 season, choosing instead to stay at Wisconsin during Paul Chryst's first season.
Aranda did meet with LSU head coach Les Miles last year when Miles was looking for a replacement for departing defensive coordinator John Chavis, but this time around it appears as though Miles was successful in convincing Aranda to make the move to Baton Rouge.
"This is a great hire for us,” Miles said in a release put out by the team. “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."
The Tigers beat Wisconsin 28-24 in their neutral site matchup in Houston at the start of the 2014 season, but Aranda's defense limited the Tigers to just 126 rushing yards in the game and needed a fourth-quarter rally to pull out the win.
“He’s everything that we were looking for in a defensive coordinator," Miles said in the release. "He’s youthful with tremendous enthusiasm; our players are going to love him. He brings great defensive knowledge to our staff both as a technician and as a strategist. We are thrilled that he’s joining us."
Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel before the Badgers' 23-21 win over USC in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday that he was not worried about losing Aranda.
But the Badgers will now have to find a new defensive coordinator before the start of the 2016 season, which could be more difficult now that Aranda will be coaching on the opposing sideline in Wisconsin's first game of the season. The Badgers will take on LSU and their former defensive coordinator on Sept. 3 in a neutral site game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.