re: Coordinator’s/Position Coaches

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The irony is Bama loves shitting on Golding, and Golding is supposed to be another validation of Robert’s work

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Auburn has targeted former Baylor defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and is expected to beat out Arkansas for his services, sources told 247Sports on Sunday.

Roberts, 55, has risen through the ranks of college football, from Delta State to Louisiana and most recently at Baylor. He led the Bears to a top-10 finish in scoring as they finished the 2021 season as Big 12 champions with the program’s first New Year’s Six bowl victory under head coach Dave Aranda.

Roberts interviewed last week with Arkansas, Auburn and Georgia Tech, a person familiar with the process told 247Sports. The Razorbacks made Roberts their No. 1 priority in their search to replace coordinator Barry Odom late last week and coach Sam Pittman was convinced as late as Saturday they were on the cusp of hiring Roberts before Auburn coach Hugh Freeze was able to sway the playcaller to the Plains.

Roberts is among the highest-respected playcallers in the sport despite being fired Dec. 1 at Baylor. Roberts is known as “the godfather” of the recent proliferation of simulated pressures/blitzes in major college football. His schemes provide a safer avenue to fake blitzes while not losing coverage responsibilities. Roberts’ staff in 2013 at Southeastern Louisiana included future Alabama coordinator Pete Golding, future Seattle Seahawks secondary coach Karl Scott and future Florida co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney.

Aranda fired Roberts Dec. 1 after three years leading the Bears’ defense, which ranked 65th in scoring (26.6) this fall. Baylor was 10th in the country last season at 18.3 points per game.

Roberts, 55, was Aranda’s mentor at Delta State, where Roberts served as defensive coordinator for two seasons before he was elevated to head coach in 2007. He hired Aranda as his defensive coordinator. Roberts led Delta State for five seasons, which included four Gulf South Conference titles, four playoff appearances and an appearance in the NCAA Division II National Championship Game in 2010.

Roberts, who also coached linebackers at Baylor, was hired away by Southeastern Louisiana before the 2012 season and went on to win the program’s first Southland Conference titles in 2013 and 2014 as the head coach. He moved on to Louisiana, his first job on the FBS level, to become Billy Napier’s defensive coordinator in 2018 before Aranda brought him to Waco in 2020.

“What was created during that time gave birth to many of the norms we see in modern college defenses

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