Texas hires Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator: Former Florida, South Carolina coach returns to Longhorns

In a stunning move, Will Muschamp is returning to Texas as the Longhorns' defensive coordinator. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian announced the hire of Muschamp Thursday in conjunction with the news that defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina will not be retained. 

Muschamp, 54, is most known for his time as the coach at Florida and South Carolina. But before that, he had a three-year stint as Texas' defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2010 and was even announced as the Longhorns' head-coach-in-waiting for whenever Mack Brown retired. That coach-in-waiting announcement came in 2008, but the promotion never came to be as Muschamp took the Florida job in late 2010, succeeding Urban Meyer, while Brown remained in his role at Texas through the 2013 season. 

Fifteen years later, Muschamp is returning to Austin to replace Kwiatkowski, who served as defensive coordinator for all five of Sarkisian's seasons leading the Longhorns. Akina lasted just one year on Sarkisian's staff. 

"We appreciate all that Pete Kwiatkowski has done for the program in his five years coordinating our defense and are grateful for Duane Akina's efforts in returning to the program this past year," Sarkisian said. "We have had a great deal of success, are thankful for the roles they played in that, and wish them the best. But at this time, we just felt it was best for our program to move in a different direction, and having the opportunity to hire Will Muschamp provides us the leadership to take our defense to another level. Will is a guy I've known for a long time, always admired and is as good of a defensive mind and coach as I've ever coached against."

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Muschamp coached Florida, South Carolina after dominant stint as Texas DC

Muschamp lasted four seasons in The Swamp, accumulating a 28-21 (17-15 SEC) record. The Gators went 11-2 in 2012, his second season, but dropped to 4-8 in 2013 and 6-5 in 2014. From there, Muschamp spent one season as Auburn's defensive coordinator before returning to the head-coaching ranks at South Carolina after Steve Spurrier stepped down. Muschamp brought the Gamecocks to a bowl game in his first three seasons, including going 9-4 in 2017, but was fired midway through the 2020 season. In all, he had a 28-30 (17-22 SEC) record in Columbia.

Since then, Muschamp has held assistant roles at Georgia's, including co-defensive coordinator from 2022-23. He slid into an analyst role on Kirby Smart's staff for the past two seasons, but will now jump back into one of the most pressure-packed assistant jobs in the country. 

Texas opened the season ranked No. 1 but missed out on the College Football Playoff, finishing the regular season 9-3 with the Citrus Bowl vs. Michigan on Dec. 31 still to play. The Longhorns rank ninth in the SEC in total defense and tied for fifth in yards per play allowed, and Sarkisian clearly believes the addition of Muschamp can make a difference entering a 2026 season that will once again have high expectations -- especially with Arch Manning returning at quarterback.

During Muschamp's tenure at Texas, the Longhorns fielded one of the nation's most dominant defenses. Texas led the country with 119 sacks over that span and finished top-10 nationally in several key categories, including rushing defense (2.9 yards per carry, third), rushing yards allowed (96.7 per game, fourth) and total defense (297.4 yards per game, seventh), all of which ranked best in the Big 12. The Longhorns reached the BCS National Championship Game in 2009 and won the Big 12 title, while 12 of Muschamp's defensive players were selected in the 2009-11 NFL Drafts, including 10 taken in the first four rounds. In 2010, Muschamp's last season in Austin, Texas again finished among the nation's elite, ranking sixth nationally in both total defense (300.2 yards per game) and pass defense (161.6 yards per game).