You probably already know the rest. Twelve years later, Aranda, who was LSU’s defensive coordinator, has been appointed Baylor’s head coach. Aranda hired Roberts to be his defensive coordinator. Roberts was the Louisiana-Lafayette defensive coordinator. That’s right. Aranda was once a Delta State employee and is now Baylor’s boss. Both Aranda and Roberts are now making much more than they did when they lived in Cleveland. Aranda, who was the highest-paid assistant coach in the nation, was earning $2.5 million at LSU. Baylor, a private school does not have to disclose the terms of its coaches’ contracts. Aranda got a six-year deal. Groceries won’t be a problem. Jeremy McClain, Southern Miss’ athletic director, was the boss of both men at Delta State. McClain is not surprised by the success of either. McClain stated Tuesday that he knew both were good. You never know what the future will bring, but I knew they would be successful no matter where they went. It was simple to see that.” The current DSU athletic director Mike Kinnison, a highly successful baseball coach, had an office right down the hall from Roberts and Aranda. Kinnison stated that both were workers. They had a tremendous work ethic. Three things spring to my mind when I think about them. They were hardworking, smart and tough. “That’s exactly what I’m looking for in defensive football coach.” It shouldn’t surprise that 2007 Delta State was the NCAA Division II leader in defense with 10 wins in 12 games. They held their 12 opponents to 14 points or less. They were the champions of the Gulf South Conference. This is the most difficult D-II league in America. McClain stated that Ron was the first staff member at Delta State and that he assembled a formidable group, particularly on defense. “They did a lot in a very short time.” According to McClain, these are the most important characteristics of successful coaches. * Ability to assess talent and recruit players. * Ability to motivate your players. This is also known as the ability to inspire. That means that you must be able to scheming in football defense. Failure to have one of these is fatal. Success is only a pipe dream. McClain states that Roberts and Aranda excelled in each of these areas. Roberts took Aranda away from Cal-Lutheran when he was only 30 years old. Aranda was a college roommate of Tom Herman, who is now the Texas head coach. McClain stated that Dave (Aranda), was a calm, business-oriented guy. He was the 3-3-5 defense that he is so well-known for. This caused problems for the offense. You would be attacked from all directions by men. People trying to block them had real difficulties. Even if you only had a brief conversation with Dave about football, you would know that he was very knowledgeable about the game and that he encouraged his players to play hard for him. He was also a great communicator, even though he was quite quiet. Roberts was the Delta State defensive coordinator for three seasons before he was promoted to head coach. Roberts was named head coach in 2007 after his first season. He stayed on for four more seasons at DSU, where he achieved a remarkable 47-16 record, and made the D-II playoffs four times out of five years. Roberts left for Southeastern Louisiana to resurrect a Southland Conference program that had only one winning record in seven years. Roberts won 35 league games during his six seasons with Southeastern. He also lost just 14 and won two conference championships. Roberts was the Louisiana-Lafayette defensive coordinator for the past two seasons. This is where the Ragin’ Cajuns have been to bowls each year. Roberts was also the last defensive coordinator at Delta State. He was Pete Golding, the Alabama defensive coordinator. Since then, Delta State has been a cradle for D-I football coaches. Steve Campbell, a former DSU head coach, won a national championship and is now South Alabama’s head coach. Jay Hopson (Southern Miss), Mike Bloomgren(Rice), Mark Hudspeth(Austin Peay), Jason Simpson, Tennessee-Martin), and Chris Willis are all former DSU assistants now heading the D-I coaching staff. Kinnison has not had any problems keeping up to Ron Roberts, according to the best. Reid Roberts is the son of Roberts and is a DSU baseball catcher.