Will Muschamp Is Back In The SEC

Texas has fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and hired Will Muschamp as its next defensive coordinator, the school announced on Thursday.

AUSTIN, Texas — 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." Read more.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.