Aranda graduated from Cal Lutheran in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 2002, he earned his master's degree in interdisciplinary studies at Texas Tech.

Aranda spent two years as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at his alma mater, California Lutheran, where the Kingsmen led the conference in scoring defense and total defense. It was his second go-around with California Lutheran after serving as an assistant from 1996-99, while finishing his degree.

Aranda spent the 2012 season at Utah State. As the defensive coordinator at USU, he oversaw an Aggies defense that ranked eighth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 15.4 points per game.

During the 2011 season at Hawai`i, Aranda's defense led the Western Athletic Conference and was
tied for 15th in the FBS in sacks with 35.

In 2010, Aranda's Hawai`i defense led the nation in turnovers caused (38), while ranking second in the nation in interceptions (23) and ninth in fumbles recovered (15), as well as tying the school record for most defensive touchdowns with five.

Moving on to the University of Wisconsin, in three years as the Wisconsin defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach, Aranda coached a Badger defense that combined to rank among the top 5 in the nation in the four major defensive categories – including scoring, total yards, passing yards and rushing yards.

During these last three years, Aranda’s defense allowed an average of 289.4 yards per game – which ranked first in the nation over that span. His defense allowed 16.9 points (No. 2 nationally), 179.9 passing yards (No. 3 nationally) and 109.6 rushing yards (No. 4 nationally) over the three years, a span that saw Wisconsin win 30
games with just 10 losses.

Aranda’s 2015 defense capped the regular season leading the nation in points allowed at 13.1 points a contest. Wisconsin also currently ranks No. 3 in the nation in total defense (268.5 yards per game), No. 4 in rushing defense (95.4 yards per game) and No. 7 in passing defense (173.2 yards per game).

Finally, Dave Aranda coached his Wisconsin Badger defense in beating USC in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, 23-21 and Accepted an offer to become the New Defensive Coordinator at LSU.

In the Holiday Bowl Game, USC  posed a huge challenge, with Smith-Schuster being the most dynamic wide receiver UW had faced this season. The Trojans' running backs in Justin Davis and Ronald Jones came into the game each within 1,000 yards rushing for the season.

Dave Aranda's Defensive squad held USC to 65 yards and 2.3 yards per rush, even lower than Wisconsin's average of allowing 97.9 yards per game. The Badgers constantly were making tackles behind the line of scrimmage (nine total tackles for loss) and held Kessler to only 18-of-32 passing for 221 yards