The biggest, and maybe the most shocking, coordinator move of the offseason in all of college football was Steve Sarkisian replacing Pete Kwiatkowski with Will Muschamp. Muschamp, who had been on staff at Georgia, returned to Texas after leading the Longhorns defense under Mack Brown from 2008-10.

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Coordinators in Sarkisian’s program rarely speak to the local media, but Muschamp was recently on the Longhorn Network’s Texas and O’s with Nick Shuley and Rod Babers to discuss a variety of topics.

First and foremost, why did Muschamp make what he called move No. 14 in his career?

“Very easy decision and a very quick decision,” Muschamp said. “Coach Sarkisian reached out and asked me if I was interested in coming back to Texas. I asked my wife Carol, she looked at me and said ‘let’s go tomorrow.’ We’re obviously empty nesters. My youngest son, Whit, is at Vanderbilt playing football. My oldest son, Jackson, is working for CAA in Nashville. We were really excited to get back to Austin.

“Our time with Coach Brown here before was unbelievable. The University of Texas does everything in a first-class manner. Nothing’s changed. It’s been that way since we’ve been back. It’s been truly awesome.”

Austin and Texas has its own appeal, but Muschamp’s return was predicated on working for Sarkisian. Muschamp explained that despite being on opposite sides of the ball, the two were very “like-minded” and run football programs similarly in “every facet.”

“I’ve always had tremendous respect for him as a play-caller,” Muschamp said. “Obviously, when you have respect for a guy that coaches on the other side — I’ve never been on the same sideline with him, which I’m glad I am now. Very positive. I’ve never known him as the man, but the guy does a phenomenal job with our team. He does a great job managing our staff. He does a great job managing our team. I’ve been so impressed.

“We’re obviously very like-minded. People would say ‘he’s an offensive coach and you’re a defensive coach, how can you be like-minded?’ He grew up with Pete Carroll and Nick Saban, both defensive coaches. That’s what makes him a great play-caller because he understands defenses very well. Very like-minded because of Coach Saban in the way he runs the program.”

Muschamp has been a variety of places since leaving Texas. Not only has he been head coach at Florida and South Carolina, he’s also had stints at Auburn and Georgia.

He noted the traffic in Austin has picked up and that the skyline is a little larger near the 40 Acres, but that since his departure he hasn’t changed and that his expectations are still to field elite defenses.

“I haven’t changed. It’s the same. I don’t need any friends. I tell the players all the time if you like me, great. If you don’t, I don’t need any more friends. But I am into coaching and developing, and I feel like we’ll do it better than anyone in the country.”