FootballScoop is proud to announce that Dave Aranda is the 2018 FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year presented by AstroTurf as selected by prior winners.
Now a decade in, it's an extremely rare thing for a coach to take home a FootballScoop Coach of the Year award at two different schools. Dave Aranda is now in that club. Aranda shared the FootballScoop Linebackers Coach of the Year honor with Tim Tibesar at Wisconsin, has now won it again at LSU in 2018.
Much like that Wisconsin group in 2015, Aranda's Tiger linebackers terrorized opponents from sideline to sideline and on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
The group was led by junior Devin White, who led both the team and the entire SEC with 123 tackles while posting a team-high 12 tackles for loss. A consistent tackling machine, he recorded double-digit tackles in five games, nine in two games and eight in four more.
White won the Butkus Award, signifying his performance as the nation's top linebacker. He was also named a First Team AP All-American and an First Team All-SEC honoree.
But LSU's linebacking corps was more than just its leader. In all, four Tiger 'backers posted at least 40 tackles on the season.
Sophomore Jacob Phillips trailed White on the team leaderboard with 87 stops on the season, while junior Michael Divinity, Jr., recorded 54 and sophomore Patrick Queen posted 40. Divinty added 10.5 TFLs and tied for the team lead with five sacks.
As a unit, LSU finished in the top 25 nationally in total defense (338.7 yards per game) and yards per play (4.81) and fourth in pass efficiency defense (103.99).
Now in his third year as LSU's associate head coach and defensive coordinator, Aranda is a Cal Lutheran graduate who began coaching as a high school assistant in 1995. After four seasons coaching linebackers at his alma mater, Aranda landed a GA job on Mike Leach's Texas Tech staff in 2000, then followed Art Briles from Lubbock to Houston as the Cougars' linebackers coach in 2003. He returned to Cal Lutheran a third time as defensive coordinator in 2005, and has since coordinated defenses for Delta State, Hawaii, Utah State and Wisconsin in addition to LSU.
The FootballScoop Coaches of the Year awards presented by AstroTurf are the only set of awards that recognize the most outstanding position coaches in college football. The finalists (Tim DeRuyter and Peter Sirmon [Cal], Bob Gregory and Pete Kwiatkowski [Washington], Jeff Koonz [North Texas] and Aranda) were selected based off of nominations by coaches, athletic directors, and athletic department personnel. The prior winners selected this year's winner.
Aranda will receive his award and be recognized at an event at the AFCA Convention in January.
Previous winners of the Linebackers Coach of the Year award are Bill McGovern (Boston College, 2008), Bob Fraser (Rutgers, 2009), Luke Fickell (Ohio State, 2010), Dave Huxtable (Wisconsin, 2011), Bob Gregory (Boise State, 2012), Jim Reid and LeVar Woods (Iowa, 2013), Jeff Casteel (Arizona, 2014), Dave Aranda and Tim Tibesear (Wisconsin, 2015), Mike Siravo (Temple, 2016) and Tyson Veidt (Iowa State, 2017).
Since 1965, the AstroTurf brand has been driven by forward thinking ingenuity. Today AstroTurf continuously improves its system design to deliver playing surfaces with the most realistic, sport-specific performance, longest lasting durability, and sound player protection. For more information please visit AstroTurf.com
Created in 1999, FootballScoop.com is the premier source for coaching job information and has long been the most widely viewed website by coaches, athletic directors, strength & conditioning coaches, operations and equipment staff across America. As the leading coaching job information venue, FootballScoop.com serves our viewers’ needs by providing first hand, timely & accurate information for our audience. FootballScoop.com is the premier provider of official job postings.