In a surprising development today, Steve Sarkisian announced a change at defensive coordinator for his Texas program.

Sark announced the program made the decision to part ways with defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and passing game coordinator Duane Akina.

Pete, the former defensive coordinator with stops at Montana State, Boise State and Washington, just finished up his fifth season on staff, while coaching veteran Akina had returned to the Longhorns staff prior to this last season after serving as Arizona’s defensive coordinator in 2024.

To fill the defensive coordinator opening, Sark announced the appointment of Will Muschamp.

Muschamp previously led a stingy Longhorns defense back from 2008-10 under Mack Brown before going on to become the head coach at Florida and then South Carolina, with a brief stop as the defensive coordinator at Auburn for a season in between those head coaching stops.

After leaving South Carolina, Muschamp had spent time working with Kirby Smart at Georgia in a variety of roles, including as defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023 before deciding to take a step back to a defensive analyst role for the past two seasons.

Here’s part of the school’s announcement:

Texas Football head coach Steve Sarkisian announced changes to his defensive staff on Thursday. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who completed his fifth season at Texas, and defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina, who returned to the Longhorns this season, will not be retained. Sarkisian also announced the return of former Texas defensive coordinator and veteran head coach Will Muschamp, who will assume the role of defensive coordinator. Muschamp previously directed some of the top defenses in Longhorn history during his tenure in Austin from 2008-10, playing a vital role as Texas finished the 2008 season ranked No. 3 before advancing to the BCS National Championship Game during the 2009 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,” said Sarkisian. “They are both tremendous coaches and people that worked extremely hard for Texas Football and the players they coached. 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. His defenses are relentless; he absolutely gets the best out of his staff and players and is such an extremely well-respected coach. I know Longhorn Nation knows him well, he led some incredible defenses here on the Forty, and I’m so fired up to be bringing him back to Texas. He’ll be an awesome addition to our staff.””This is an exciting day for the Muschamp family,” Muschamp said. 

“We loved our time in Austin and truly enjoyed everything about working with Texas Football. We’re thrilled to be coming back to a program with one of the richest and proudest histories and traditions in college football. With what Coach Sark has done in rebuilding this program – knowing there are even better days ahead – I was fired up for the opportunity. I have tremendous respect and admiration for Sark, how he leads his program, develops his team and players, builds culture and goes about his business. I’m excited to be a part of it and can’t wait to get started, Hook ’em!”