Will Muschamp returns to Texas after most recently serving as an advisor at Georgia.
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Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp answers questions from reporters at the Moncrief Athletics Complex in Austin on April 9, 2026.
Danny Davis/American-Statesman
AUSTIN — The decision couldn’t have been any easier for Will Muschamp.
When he was considering returning to Texas as its new, old defensive coordinator, he and his family were on board almost instantly.
He asked his wife’s opinion.
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“I’ll go tomorrow,” Carol told her husband.
He asked his youngest son, Jackson.
“Dad, there’s only one Texas,” he said. “You got to do this.”
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The 54-year-old former Longhorn defensive coordinator under Mack Brown accepted the job as the new defensive coordinator under Steve Sarkisian last December.
In so doing, Texas got the best defensive wizard since Darrell Royal’s chief lieutenant, Mike Campbell. And Muschamp got the opportunity to bring Texas the national championship that eluded him and Brown in his three seasons here from 2008 to 2010 when they had one of college football’s top defenses.
Sarkisian parted ways with Pete Kwiatkowski, who had been with him five seasons. Coach Kwit was hardly a problem on his staff or remotely a liability, but Muschamp has proven to be one of college football’s best defensive minds. Anyone who hires Muschamp has made an upgrade.
And Muschamp has changed little from the fiery, driven, uncompromising coach who was the master at in-game adjustments and maximized the potential of the talented roster he helped assemble and tutor.
Brown knew what a stud he was and, in fact, even steered the decision to name Muschamp his head coach-in-waiting, if only to hang onto this talent. It didn’t come to be. He wasn’t interested in waiting and instead took head coaching jobs at Florida and then South Carolina.
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Neither of those panned out. In his nine collective seasons, he had losing records in four of them. He won more than seven games in a season just twice, both in his second years on the job. His Gators went 11-2 in 2012 and finished in the top 10. His Gamecocks were 9-4 in Year Two. Overall, he won just 56 games and lost 51.
But he helped Georgia win a pair of national championships in 2021 and 2022 as co-defensive coordinator and served as Kirby Smart’s defensive analyst in 2024.
Is he still interested in being a head coach again?
“No,” he said without elaboration.
Not every great defensive coordinator translates to a great head coach. Didn’t work out for another Longhorn defensive legend, David McWilliams. He won in his first and only season at Texas Tech with a 7-4 record, but had three losing seasons in five years at his alma mater. As brilliant a defensive mastermind as he win, it didn’t translate to his job at the top. He finished with a 38-30 record and had one outstanding season in 1990 when the Longhorns reached No. 3 and shocked the nation until Miami shocked them in the Cotton Bowl and plummeted them to 12th.
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Same for Leon Fuller, who was one of the best to ever coach here and a huge proponent of strong, man-for-man coverage like Muschamp. He excelled in Austin but had one winning season in seven years as Colorado State head coach.
Only Gene Chizik, Brown’s defensive chief in 2005 and 2006, did outstanding work here and also succeeded as a head coach later, winning a national title as Auburn’s head coach in 2010.
Muschamp might be in a category all to himself. He’s that good.
He did joke a bit during his first media availability since his hiring. Muschamp confided that he rarely gets on social media platforms. He doesn’t use a computer, preferring to write longhands on notepads. By his own admission, he can’t even turn on a TV.
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“I would just say coaching. I can grill out all right,” he said. “Other than that, I’m not very good. I have no technological skills at all.”
From his intense demeanor to his attire with a message, he was all business.
He good-naturedly chided certain reporters about their aging looks and explained the significance of his black T-shirt with “NT=NP” emblazoned in white letters.
The translation of his choice of wardrobe?
No thud equals no play. In other words, no nonsense.
Pretty straightforward, just like his blunt coaching style.
“If you don’t thud at practice, and you don’t throw your face in the fan at practice, that means you’re probably not going to be a good tackler,” Muschamp said. “If you don’t thud at practice, that means you’re not going to be a good tackler. The best defenses I’ve been a part of, they tackled extremely well. And right now in offensive football, you better be able to tackle and play in space.”
His players on that side of the ball should take that as an ultimatum unless they want to be standing on the sidelines next to him.
This guy, as always, doesn’t mince words.
“So we got some guys, not many, but they don’t want to thud at practice,” he said. “I call it a turn down. If you turn down too much, you won’t get on the bus to go to the game. You’ll be watching it from home. So if you don’t thud, you won’t play.”
Muschamp also made it clear he’s got some personnel that wants to thud and want to make a difference.
By name, he singled out types like hybrid outside linebacker-defensive end Colin Simmons and safety Jelani McDonald.
Muschamp is a huge advocate of press coverage, something Texas did less and less of, probably to an extent of maybe 20% at best.
“I’m excited about the guys that we’ve got,” he said. “We’ve got really good competition in the secondary, especially at corner. That’s something we believe in — denying the ball, making the quarterbacks got to throw in some tight spots. You’ve got to give them some different looks. You can’t live in it, but we certainly believe in getting our hands on people.”
He does sound a bit nervous about the lack of experience at linebacker with only Ty’Anthony Smith back out of last year’s regular rotation at that position.
“That’s a little bit of a concern,” he admitted.
Finally, I asked him if he was hired by Sarkisian, in part, to help Texas beat the Bulldogs. Sarkisian is 0-3 against Georgia, Muschamp’s alma mater and former employer.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “I think he thinks we’re going to do a good job here.”
That much is a given. But it can’t hurt.