Once upon a time, Will Muschamp was both the defensive coordinator and head coach-in-waiting at Texas, serving under Mack Brown with the understanding that he would inherit the Longhorns program when Brown stepped away. It was a largely fruitful, if brief, relationship; Texas went 12–1 and beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl in 2008–09, and won the Big 12 and made a trip to the BCS national championship the following year. The Longhorns slipped to 5–7 in 2010, and Muschamp jumped at a different head coaching opportunity at a top-flight program, replacing Urban Meyer at Florida.

Two rough SEC head coaching stints and a stint at his alma mater later, Muschamp is heading back to the 40 Acres, where he will replace Pete Kwiatkowski as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator under Steve Sarkisian.

Texas has also announced the dismissal of defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina, announcing the Muschamp hire in the same release.

WIll Muschamp’s coaching career

A former safety at Georgia, Muschamp quickly broke into coaching, beginning as a graduate assistant at Auburn before working his way through the lower divisions (West Georgia, Eastern Kentucky, Valdosta State). He landed at LSU as defensive backs coach in 2001, earning the defensive coordinator title at the FBS level for the first time the following year, working under Nick Saban. He followed Saban to the Dolphins in ‘05, but returned to the SEC the following year as the DC at Auburn (‘06 to ‘07). His first Texas stint began in ‘08.

Muschamp built a reputation as one of the SEC’s top defensive coordinators, but it didn’t translate to success as head coach. He went 28–21 in four years at Florida, with a 17–15 SEC record, topping out with an 11–2 record and Sugar Bowl loss in 2012. He was fired late in the ‘14 season and after a year back at Auburn as DC in ‘15, he landed the head coaching job at South Carolina, going 28–30 (17–22). He was just 6–13 over his last two seasons and was fired midway through the 2020 season.

He surfaced at his alma mater Georgia in 2021, first as special teams coordinator and later co-defensive coordinator before stepping back into an off-field analyst role. Earlier this offseason, Syracuse coach Fran Brown, who worked with Muschamp at Georgia, said he tried but failed to bring the fiery coach back into a full-time coaching role. Sarkisian succeeded, and hopes “Coach Boom” can elevate a unit that ranked 102nd nationally in pass defense.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Texas Announces Return of Former DC Will Muschamp, Replacing Pete Kwiatkowski.

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