Thanks to the transfer portal and recruiting, the Texas Longhorns will have a lot of new faces on campus to help push through to a national championship this season. But ESPN’s Greg McElroy thinks the most important addition is to the coaching staff in the return of Will Muschamp.
“I don’t feel like that’s getting enough buzz, nationally.” – ESPN’s Greg McElroy
In December, Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian fired defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and hired Muschamp. Muschamp was the defensive coordinator at Texas during the Mack Brown era and was even dubbed “head coach in waiting.”
The Will Muschamp hire is NOT being talked about enough.
A sneaky HUGE hire for @TexasFootball that could lead to more postseason success for the Longhorns 🤘#HookEm | #Longhornspic.twitter.com/vyCYWH9cjU
— Always College Football (@AlwaysCFB) March 31, 2026
Muschamp was the DC from 2008-2010. His defenses at Texas were some of the best in the country and helped the Longhorns reach the national championship game in 2009. The plan was for Brown to retire and Muschamp take over soon after the national title game. But when Brown indicated he would continue coaching at Texas, Muschamp left to become the head coach for the Florida Gators.
Since leaving Austin, Muschamp has served as head coach in Gainesville, defensive coordinator at Auburn, head coach at South Carolina and various roles for Kirby Smart at Georgia. McElroy thinks just running the defense will benefit Muschamp.
“He is now returning to a role he is very familiar with and been very successful in, that is the defensive coordinator. You put Will Muschamp in a role where he doesn’t have to worry about the whole program, he can just lock into the day to day defense, XOs, personnel evaluation, this man turns into something completely different.” – ESPN’s Greg McElroy
The ESPN analyst says he’s hearing from inside the Texas program that the defense looks great.
“From inside the Texas building right now the reports about how that defense is operating have been extraordinary. He’s installing a defensive system over the last few of months that’s pretty complex. The quote from inside the program is that he’s coaching his tail off and the belief is that Muschamp could be one of the quiet differences.” – ESPN’s Greg McElroy
The former Alabama quarterback thinks if Texas is to win a national championship this year, Muschamp will be a big reason for the breakthrough.
“If Texas goes on and wins a national title this year, Will Muschamp is going to play a huge role in that. And I want to emphasize the word ‘quiet’ there because this is the kind of thing that doesn’t make a ton of headlines in March. But we’ll fast forward to December, if Texas makes the playoff and they’re in great shape, it’s going to be partly because Will Muschamp is calling the defense.” – ESPN’s Greg McElroy
Muschamp is now one of the highest paid assistant coaches in college football history. But if Texas wins it all, it will be well worth it.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: ESPN’s Greg McElroy says one Texas Football addition is overlooked
