Fansided

Baylor Bears name Jim Grobe interim head coach

By John Buhler

WINSTON SALEM, NC - OCTOBER 19: Head coach Jim Grobe of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at BB
WINSTON SALEM, NC - OCTOBER 19: Head coach Jim Grobe of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons watches the game against the Maryland Terrapins at BB /
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The Baylor Bears will reportedly name former Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Jim Grobe as their interim head football coach for the 2016 NCAA season.

According to USA Today Sports’ Dan Wolken, the Baylor Bears will name former Wake Forest Demon Deacons head coach Jim Grobe as interim head coach this fall, replacing the departed Art Briles amidst the university’s sexual assault scandal.

Wolken adds that Baylor will look for a full-time head coach for the 2017 NCAA season, though Grobe could be a potential long-term solution. It seems that Baylor wasn’t able to pull a head coaching candidate away from another staff in late May. Baylor will also apparently keep Phil Bennett on as defensive coordinator on this 2016 Bears staff.

Grobe hasn’t been a head coach since he resigned from Wake Forest in 2013. Wake Forest achieved great success under Grobe from 2006 to 2008, including an 11-3 2006 NCAA season where the Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Division, the ACC, and played in the Orange Bowl.

Before arriving in Winston-Salem in 2001, Grobe coached at Ohio University leading the Bobcats from 1995 to 2000. In 19 seasons as a Division I college football head coach, Grobe went 110-115-1 and led basketball school Wake Forest to five bowl games.

For the amount of turmoil surrounding the Baylor program, it makes great sense for the program to go with a seasoned head coach that has had success winning at a non-traditional power. While prying away a more on-the-rise head coaching candidate from another Power 5 school was largely off the table, it seems that Baylor has found the man who will lead the Bears during their certainly tumultuous 2016 NCAA season.

If Grobe could find any success coaching Division I doormat Wake Forest a decade ago, maybe holding this Baylor team that is falling apart isn’t as big of a challenge as it seems. For now, Baylor has found the guy to lead its football team.

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