{"id":252682,"date":"2026-04-16T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/252682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T14:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T14:51:12","slug":"texas-football-dc-will-muschamp-on-why-he-came-back-to-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/252682\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas football DC Will Muschamp on why he came back to Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Muschamp<\/a> has one gear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

He knows of only one way to conduct business and that\u2019s with a smoldering intensity born out of decades as one of the best defensive minds in college football.<\/p>\n

Muschamp is a defensive coordinator by title but Texas football <\/a>coach Steve Sarkisian <\/a>knows him to be so much more. He\u2019s a second head coach working right down the hall, which is a nice luxury in today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

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\"1\/7\/2010<\/p>\n

1\/7\/2010 – Jay Janner\/AMERICAN-STATESMAN – Coach Will Muschamp yells at one of his players in the second quarter at the National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Thursday Jan. 7, 2010.<\/p>\n

Jay Janner, Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

So why did Mack Brown’s former head coaching-in-waiting decide to return for a second tour with the Longhorns? He dismisses any talk of it having to do with spending the last two seasons as a defensive analyst at Georgia for coach Kirby Smart \u2014 who has had Sark’s number of late \u2014 but it can’t hurt to have that valuable intel on your sideline.<\/p>\n

It starts with the head coach, according to\u00a0Muschamp.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Sarkisian) does a phenomenal job with our players and our staff,\u201d Muschamp said. \u201cHe\u2019s very like-minded in how you run a program and it\u2019s been a lot of fun.”<\/p>\n

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When he told Carol\u00a0Muschamp last fall about the possibility of coaching the Horns again,\u00a0Wifey was all in. \u201cI\u2019ll go tomorrow,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n

So was oldest son Jackson, a former walk-on quarterback at Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad, there\u2019s only one Texas,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At 54, Coach Boom says he has no aspirations to be a head coach again after spending four seasons at Florida and five at South Carolina. Perhaps it\u2019s the less than spectacular 55-51 overall record and the 34-37 mark in SEC games or maybe Muschamp understands that at this point of his career \u2014 with 2026 being his 28th season in college football \u2014 he can get his juices flowing by blowing up opposing offenses as a full-time DC and not have to worry so much about the other responsibilities that come with occupying the biggest office.<\/p>\n

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\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp answers questions from reporters at the Moncrief Athletics Complex in Austin on April 9, 2026.<\/p>\n

Danny Davis\/American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Muschamp hopes to build on pass success<\/p>\n

Muschamp was a star-maker during his first stint in Austin. All-Americans like defensive ends Brian Orakpo\u00a0and Sam Acho and safety Earl Thomas left the 512 and enjoyed Pro Bowl careers thanks to his tutelage. And don\u2019t forget his former safety Blake Gideon, who was Muschamp\u2019s play-caller in the secondary of Texas\u2019 last national runner-up. Gideon left his defensive coordinator\u2019s post at Georgia Tech<\/a> to reunite with his mentor in Austin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a lot better coach than he was a player,\u201d Muschamp mused. \u201cI tried to replace him for three years, but he\u2019s an outstanding football coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The two will team up just like the old days <\/a>except that Gideon won\u2019t be a defensive back this time around. Ask Blake about his old coach, and apparently little has changed in the 17 years since they last worked together.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe might have a couple more gray hairs but he’s got the same energy, the same approach, the same expectations, and his consistency over time is what made him who he is,\u201d Gideon said. \u201cI believe in his system and how he does things, and we’ve got a lot of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muschamp showed up at last week\u2019s news conference with a black T-shirt that read “NT=NP.” “No Thud equals No Play” means just what you think it means.\u00a0 Muschamp\u2019s players thrived on collisions and the results spoke for themselves. In 2009, the Horns led the country in rushing defense (72.4 yards per game), interceptions (25) and total takeaways (37) and allowed 24 points or less in 12 of their 14 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“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,” he said. “The best defenses I’ve been a part of tackled extremely well and right now in offensive football, you better be able to tackle and play in space.”<\/p>\n

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He even went as far as to say there are some players on the roster who aren’t bringing the wood to his satisfacttion.<\/p>\n

“If you turn down too much,\u00a0you won’t be on the bus to go to the game,” he said. “You’d be watching it from home.”<\/p>\n

Attention to detail is a Muschamp hallmark\u00a0<\/p>\n

Defensive line coach Kenny Baker, who Muschamp is encouraging to take the next step forward to becoming a defensive coordinator, said it\u2019s not unusual for Muschamp to ask the a defensive tackle where the cornerback is supposed to be in a certain formation or vice versa. It’s that attention to detail that could put this defense over the top, along with Muschamp’s signature team-building routine: a slap on the back here, some tough love there, or even funny meme sent to the defense’s group text he created.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou can see he\u2019s taking the time to step aside and connect with the guys,\u201d Baker said. \u201cHe\u2019s passionate and brings a lot of energy and juice but he\u2019s also very demanding. We learned a long time ago that they don\u2019t care what you know as long as they know you care. He\u2019s done a phenomenal job of building that bridge and connecting with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The energy is at red-line levels while Muschamp is installing his new attack, one Sarkisian recognizes from their time\u00a0working under Nick Saban at Alabama.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a lot of volume right now,\u201d Sarkisian said earlier in the spring. “I think repetition is important. I think communication is really important. I think learning from one day to the next that we’re not making the same mistakes multiple times in a row is a good indicator that we’re moving in the right direction. But yet, we’re still playing fast, we’re still ball hawking and we’re still playing a physical brand of football that we want to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Blake<\/p>\n

Blake Gideon has returned to Texas to coach the Longhorns’ secondary for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Reconnecting with familiar faces<\/p>\n

During his first spring football on the Forty Acres since 2010, Muschamp has reconnected with Acho and younger brother Emmanuel along with Longhorn legends Derrick Johnson and Michael Huff while catching up with former boss Brown who has been a frequent visitor to practice.<\/p>\n

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On paper, Muschamp represents an upgrade over former defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski. but football games aren\u2019t won on paper and PK should be credited with piloting one of the best defenses in school history in 2024 before the Horns slipped from No. 3 nationally to No. 40. Muschamp takes over a defense that ranked 28th nationally in points allowed (20.3) and returns premier talent in edge rusher Colin Simmons, safety Jelani McDonald and a potential star in linebacker Ty\u2019Anthony Smith. He loses longtime anchors Anthony Hill, Jr. at linebacker, Michael Taaffe at safety and Manny Muhammad at cornerback.<\/p>\n

Of course there has an adjustment period with him taking over a defensive room that experienced some nice successes: two national semifinal appearances over the last three seasons as Kwiatkowski ran the show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the field, Muschamp earned a reputation as an aggressive defensive player-caller who, in the mode of longtime secondary coach Duane Akina,\u00a0didn\u2019t mind putting his cornerbacks on an island in press coverage. But he understands that it can\u2019t be an every-down strategy against today\u2019s SEC offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t live in it but we certainly believe in getting our hands on people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s an interesting mix with Muschamp and Sarkisian, a pair of former Saban assistants who have forged successful careers built largely as popular players\u2019 coaches.<\/p>\n

With Brown, Muschamp came within one game of winning it all.<\/p>\n

Sark has been on the semifinal doorstep a couple of times and is looking for that special breakthrough season.<\/p>\n

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Muschamp could be the final piece to this six-year puzzle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Muschamp has one gear. He knows of only one way to conduct business and that\u2019s with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,11511,261,9602,266,3231,537,536,43696],"class_list":{"0":"post-252682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-cedric-golden","12":"tag-college-football","13":"tag-columnists-opinions","14":"tag-sec-football","15":"tag-steve-sarkisian","16":"tag-texas-longhorns","17":"tag-texas-longhorns-football","18":"tag-will-muschamp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}