The Velveteen Bear
Baylor Coach Dave Aranda often uses lessons from children’s books to teach his team important values.
After Baylor upset undefeated Oklahoma 27-14 in Waco a few weeks ago there was plenty of celebration—heck, their fans even stormed the field twice!
There were a lot of questions about why second year coach Dave Aranda kicked that last second field goal; what a win like this does for a program; and why he would stay at Baylor rather than jettisoning off to LSU or USC.
To answer the last one, Aranda spoke about lessons learned in the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit in an interview with Joel Klatt.
“I love it here, and this is where I wanna be. I think the fit at Baylor is so strong…I meet with our young players—we got about 30 of them—and we talked about The Velveteen Rabbit. It’s one of my favorite books, it’s a children’s book, it’s about dolls or toys wanting to become real.”
Klatt chuckled a little and asked if he was serious, but Aranda kept explaining the message:
“You become, it takes a long time, the journey doesn’t happen to people that have sharp edges or people that break easily or have to be carefully kept. Usually by the time you’re real, your eyes are all worn out and your seams are broken. But you’re not ugly, only to people that don’t understand.”
“I think that’s the thing man, that’s it! To see football as a way to become real, the ups and downs and how you learn about yourself and how you can grow and transcend. I feel like I can have those discussion and talk about those things way important to me here at Baylor.”
Why The Velveteen Rabbit?
I had actually never read the book, so I went to read it in it’s entirety here.
I then asked Coach Aranda if he felt that his team resembled the rabbit’s journey? He started off apologetic that he made the reference in the first place (he shouldn’t be), and ultimately agreed that his team has faced a tough journey to the Big 12 title game.
“Personally for me, there’s times where I get to where I feel comfortable… like I can be me, put both feet in the ground and look you in the eye and not try to be something that I’m not.
In those moments I speak what I feel and then when I say stuff it becomes apparent that maybe you’re not supposed to say that or no one else thinks that or what the hell did he just say. I think The Velveteen Rabbit was one of those cases. Probably have to choose my words better.
To just have the type of conversations with the team to where you can grow and talk about that and there’s no smirks or faces. There can be real insight, takeaways and real comparisons [and] understand metaphors. To me, that’s one of the coolest things. That’s gonna be a big memory for me from this team. Is that growth.
In a way your question does ring true in terms of just the maturity and growth of the team.”
The Rabbit’s Journey
As the story goes, a stuffed animal rabbit was the favorite toy of a young boy. Then that boy got new toys that had extra features such as buttons that made these toys do cool tricks.
The rabbit was sad because he could not do anything ‘special’ but an older stuffed animal horse told him not to worry. That he was lucky because he would be loved for his simplicity and therefore be able to embark on a special journey to become real.
Sure enough, the young boy still loved the Velveteen Rabbit and took him everywhere and slept with him. Even though the rabbit started to become worn and frayed.
The boy even slept with him when he got Scarlet fever for comfort. However, after the boy got better the rabbit had to be thrown away due to having germs of the disease.
Just before the rabbit was thrown away forever, a fairy came and turned him into a real bunny. As a real bunny, he could continue to love that same boy. Other toys do not get to go on that journey.
How does this apply to Baylor, the Big 12 and Coach Aranda?
This summer, Texas and Oklahoma announced they would leave the Big 12 for the SEC in the near future. The Longhorns and Sooners had always been the flashy toys that national media gave more attention to than the other eight programs.
Baylor was picked to finish eighth in the Big 12 preseason polls and Coach Aranda was ranked as the worst head coach in the league. The Bears were that forgotten stuffed toy in the bin.
Baylor had to go on a long, tough journey to reach the Big 12 title game. Their administration had to work to keep the conference in one piece; they went through a tough camp; they played with less experienced TV broadcast crews and got less exposure; they played in Stillwater without their star linebacker; they lost in Fort Worth; their starting quarterback pulled his hamstring and forced their backup into action; they lost a top assistant coach mid-season to a rival.
Most of these Bears’ journeys also predate Aranda’s arrival and have been just as hectic and windy. For example, Gerry Bohanon had to wait three years on the bench before starting as QB1.
Jalen Pitre, who committed in 2015 when Art Briles was still the coach, has led the Class of 2017 that has gone through rebuilding from scandal to dealing with two coaching changes, both a two-win and one-win season, and now two Big 12 title game appearances. Coach Aranda raved about these guys—seven of whom are starters—saying:
“[I have] a lot of respect, a lot of love for them. To see the growth in them has been one of my biggest and best takeaways. Charge is often very difficult, change is hard, and it strikes me that it’s getting harder for young people—even harder than it used to be.”
Coach Aranda continued on about the legacies that this group has created on and off the field through on-field stats, school degrees and community service. How they were so tough, not only in their play, but in responding to the constant change around them.
“Look at this guy he did it the right way. Look at how many hours he put in, look at the lives he touched, look at the lives they changed. That’s how it is for a lot of these guys. To have that along with an edge on the field I think is special. To win, to do it one way… to now to do it another way and to have to trust yet another coach and believe in yet another way of doing stuff is difficult to do. It wouldn’t be done without their blessing and their belief. A real special, special group.”
These Bears have been worn. You can see the wear and tear. They’ve been forgotten and trampled on, but they have been loved.
Just before they were about to be thrown away, however, Oklahoma State sacked the shiny toy Sooner and gave Baylor renewed life with a Big 12 championship game berth.
Now Baylor gets to reciprocate the love they received back to everyone who has loved them by playing to the best of their abilities in the postseason.
As fans, and media, these are the teams we love the most. They are the only ones who can go on these journeys to make them real.
When they do, they love us right back.