{"id":93537,"date":"2025-12-19T00:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/93537\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T00:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:31:11","slug":"will-muschamp-brings-trademark-intensity-back-to-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/93537\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Muschamp brings trademark intensity back to Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cBoom, mother$%#$^! Knock those mother#@%$ out!\u201d<\/p>\n

The mythologization of Will Muschamp\u2019s famous intensity started some time around 2007 with the help of a fortuitously-placed sideline microphone that caught the then-Auburn Tigers defensive coordinator reacting to his defense ending a possession by the Arkansas Razorbacks on a throwaway.<\/p>\n

The Tigers eventually won that particular rock fight in Fayetteville 9-7 after holding the Razorbacks to 193 yards of total offense on 4.7 yards per pass attempt and 2.7 yards per rush, something approaching Muschamp\u2019s platonic ideal of a football game.<\/p>\n

In the early days of the blogosphere, the moment took on a life of its own, especially after Mack Brown hired Muschamp to coach the Texas defense in 2008 when Brown had to abandon the failed Larry Mac Duff-Duane Akina pairing after one season.<\/p>\n

The statistics tell the story of Muschamp\u2019s success defensively with the Longhorns in pushing Texas to the brink of a national championship in 2009, but with Muschamp, the statistics only tell part of the story, especially for a coach who famously noted, \u201cStats are for losers. I like winning games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s Muschamp\u2019s intensity that remains indelible nearly two decades later.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the image of him bleeding from his cheek on the sideline after ripping off his headset, oblivious to the blood streaming down his face.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All these years later, it\u2019s not easy to pinpoint the game it happened in, partly because Muschamp again ended up bleeding on the sideline when was the head coach at South Carolina.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s the image of him levitating on the sideline in reaction to something on the field.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s the video of a fiery halftime speech to his defense that ended with Muschamp punching the whiteboard and screaming, \u201cEverybody just do your job! Understand that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s crazy. He\u2019s a crazy man, but ain\u2019t none like him,\u201d former Texas linebacker Emmanuel Acho said<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Look in Muschamp\u2019s eyes. Those are the eyes of a full-fledged lunatic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Is there any functional difference between that look on Muschamp\u2019s face and Jack Nicholson\u2019s depiction of a man\u2019s descent into madness in \u201cThe Shining\u201d? Of course not.<\/p>\n

So with Thursday\u2019s shocking news that Muschamp is returning to the Forty Acres for his second stint as the Texas defensive coordinator, replacing Pete Kwiatkowski after five seasons, there\u2019s no doubt that there\u2019s a massive gap in intensity between Muschamp, perhaps less fiery these days in his mid-50s, and the mild-mannered Kwiatkowski.<\/p>\n

But Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian is betting on Muschamp elevating the Longhorns defense because of more than just his intensity \u2014 Muschamp is still regarded as one of the best defensive minds in football.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill Muschamp understands defensive football, I would suggest, greater than any mind in the collegiate game,\u201d Acho said. \u201cRemember, Muschamp was the co-defensive coordinator for those back-to-back Georgia defensive teams that won national championships over the last four or five years. Will Muschamp coaches with a tenacity and attention to detail that you do not find \u2014 it is an uncommon passion for the game of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welcome back, Coach Boom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cBoom, mother$%#$^! Knock those mother#@%$ out!\u201d The mythologization of Will Muschamp\u2019s famous intensity started some time around 2007…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,536,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-93537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-longhorns-football","11":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93537","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=93537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}