Will Muschamp is heading back to Texas.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian announced Thursday that defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina had been fired and that Muschamp would take over as the team’s defensive coordinator.
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Muschamp has been serving as a defensive analyst at Georgia for the past two seasons.
It’ll be the second stint as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator for the former Florida and South Carolina head coach. After he was the defensive coordinator at Auburn for two seasons, Muschamp went to Austin and led the Texas defense for three seasons. He was in charge of the defense as Texas made the BCS title game in January 2011 and lost to Alabama.
Near the end of Muschamp’s first season, Texas said he had been designated the coach-in-waiting to succeed Mack Brown. However, Brown was under contract through the 2016 season, and the Florida job opened up at the end of the 2010 season.
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Muschamp was 28-21 in his time with the Gators before he was fired with one game to go in 2014.
After another stint at Auburn as the Tigers’ defensive coordinator in 2015, Muschamp became South Carolina’s head coach in 2016. He spent over four seasons with the Gamecocks and was fired as the team was 2-5 in 2020. South Carolina was 28-30 in his time in Columbia.
Like at Florida, Muschamp’s best season at South Carolina came in his second year. The Gators were 11-2 in 2012 before winning 10 games over the rest of Muschamp’s tenure. The Gamecocks went 9-4 in 2017, but then won 13 of their next 32 games before Muschamp was fired.
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Texas allowed 19.8 points and 4.9 yards per play in 2025 as the Longhorns went 9-3. Both those marks weren’t as good as 2024, when Texas allowed 15.3 points per game and 4.4 yards a play. Opposing quarterbacks threw for 2,851 yards against Texas over 12 games in 2025. A year ago, Texas allowed 2,781 passing yards across 16 games as the Longhorns made the SEC title game and the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.