The former “head coach in waiting” is back in Austin.
Texas announced Thursday it has fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski after his fifth season with the Longhorns and brought back former defensive coordinater Will Muschamp to replace him. The Longhorns also fired defensive pass game coordinator Duane Akina after one season.
“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,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian in a statement. “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.”
Muschamp returns to Texas for his second stint as DC. He led the Texas defense from 2008-10 and helped the program win the Big 12 and reach the BCS national championship game in the 2009 season.
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In Muschamp’s time at Texas, the Longhorn defense ranked No. 1 in the nation with 119 sacks and ranked in the top-10 nationally allowing 2.9 yards per rushing attempt (third), 96.7 rushing yards per game (fourth) and 297.4 yards per game (seventh).
In the 2009-11 NFL drafts, Muschamp had a combined 12 players drafted with 10 in the first four rounds.
In 2008, Texas announced Muschamp would succeed Mack Brown whenever he retired, though there was no timetable for Brown’s retirement at the time. That never materialized, as Muschamp left in 2011 to take the head job at Florida.
Florida was 28-21 in his time there, with its best season coming in 2012 where the Gators posted an 11-2 record and reached the Sugar Bowl. He ultimately stepped down after the 2014 season.
Muschamp went on to return to Auburn as defensive coordinator, became the head coach at South Carolina and then joined the staff at his alma mater Georgia in 2021 where he’s been since.
The surprise hire comes on the heels of an underwhelming season for Texas defensively. After ranking top-10 in the nation in passing yards per game allowed last season, Texas dropped to 101st nationally.
It’s still unclear who will replace Akina, but the Longhorns hope Muschamp and the new pass game coordinator can improve the defense to become one of the nation’s best again.
“We’re thrilled to be coming back to a program with one of the richest and proudest histories and traditions in college football,” Muschamp said in a statement. “With what Coach Sark has done in rebuilding this program — knowing there are even better days ahead — I was fired up for the opportunity!”
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