Ex-Baylor Defensive Coordinator Ron Roberts Heading to Auburn
Former Baylor Bears defensive coordinator Ron Roberts did not have to wait long for offers after being fired by Dave Aranda, as he has joined Hugh Freeze's staff in the same position with the Auburn Tigers.
Roberts had been at Baylor for three seasons, joining on as part of Aranda's original staff in 2020. After having one of the top defenses in the nation in 2021, the Bears regressed defensively in 2022, especially in the last month of the season, before Roberts was let go on December 1.
The Bears were one of the few FBS teams to not allow an opponent to score over 30 points in a game in 2021 but fell back to allowing 30+ points in five games in 2022. The Bears 27 points per game allowed this season was just barely good enough for fifth in the Big 12.
Roberts and Aranda go back more than a decade and a half when the latter was an assistant on Roberts' staff at Delta State in 2007. Roberts has been coaching for 33 seasons and was a two-time Gulf South Coach of the Year at Delta State in 2007 and 2008.
Auburn won the small sweepstakes for Roberts, as the defensive coordinator chose the Tigers over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Roberts has not worked with Freeze before but, oddly enough, he was going to work with a similar offensive style no matter which program he chose. Auburn is also tabbed to hire Philip Montgomery as their offensive coordinator, who served the same post at Baylor under Art Briles. Briles' son Kendal, who succeeded Montgomery at Baylor, is the offensive coordinator at Arkansas.
This will be Roberts' first job in the SEC.
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.