Will Muschamp hired as defensive coordinator for SEC rival

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Will Muschamp hired as defensive coordinator for SEC rival

December 20, 2025

The Georgia Bulldogs are losing a key assistant to a major SEC rival next year. Former defensive analyst Will Muschamp was hired by the Texas Longhorns as their defensive coordinator. Texas fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski to make way for Muschamp.

This is Muschamp’s second stint with the Longhorns. He served as the Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2008-10 before he was hired as the Florida Gators head coach. Fifteen years and a conference realignment later, Muschamp finds himself with the Longhorns again.

He was a defensive analyst for the Georgia Bulldogs directly after his second head coaching job with South Carolina (2016-20). With the Bulldogs, he had seen his role change from special teams coordinator (2021) to co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach (2022-23), but he switched to a reduced role as defensive analyst to be with his family more.

Many people knew Muschamp was talented enough to be a defensive coordinator anyway and now he gets to help Texas beat Georgia, his former team.

“One of the unintended consequences of this is we do get a little intel into the Georgia theme,” Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said, according to 247Sports. “Now, I think we’re going to probably play some of those themes, of which they play defensive football, too. And so it’s not only about, how do you beat Georgia? But the reality is we’re going to get to go against that a lot more in practice in all of our good-on-good sessions.”

Texas hasn’t beaten Georgia since they’ve joined the SEC, including losing to the Bulldogs in the SEC championship. Now with one of Georgia’s most talented assistants, the Longhorns are hoping for a better chance against the Bulldogs.

Muschamp joins one of the SEC’s most talented defenses, but the Longhorns have sky-high expectations. He’s expected to be one of the SEC’s highest paid defensive coordinators.