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AUSTIN, Texas -- Will Muschamp didn't get his wish. He got hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube, but he didn't get his wish.
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| Muschamp joins Texas as the highest-paid Big 12 assistant, but his resume backs up the big bucks. (US Presswire) |
"It's amazing because of the YouTube situation how many Baptist preachers I've had to answer to," said Muschamp, sitting in his new office that overlooks the Royal-Memorial Stadium field.
"The year before (Arkansas) had rushed 270 yards and at that point in the game they had about 28, so I was kind of happy."
If that was Muschamp being happy, then you don't want to see him mad. Texas, of course, bought into Will's World when it hired the 36-year-old wonder coach away from Auburn in January. Money is no object for Texas, which treats the loss of defensive coordinators like Zsa-Zsa when she loses a diamond earring.
Oh well, just have to go buy a new one.
Muschamp came for $425,000 per, reportedly making him the highest-paid Big 12 assistant. That's eyebrow-raising even in these heady times for assistant coaches. The coach won't engage you in salary talk but he might show you his national championship ring (LSU, 2003), his NFL resume (2005 with the Dolphins) and a broken dry erase board or two.
Entire stories have been written about Muschamp smashing things. Gallagher, though, he is not. The coach has drawn blood (his own) by pounding a board while trying to make a point.
"There's a difference between his excitement and being mad," Auburn defensive tackle Josh Thompson said last year. "The Arkansas thing was excitement. It would have been more explicit content if he was mad."
So we have that to look forward to if Muschamp doesn't turn around Texas' defense. But the guy hasn't failed much lately. Neither has Texas with its hires. Three Texas defensive assistants have gone on to head coaching jobs since 2005 -– Greg Robinson (Syracuse), Dick Tomey (San Jose State) and Gene Chizik (Iowa State). Co-coordinator Larry Mac Duff resigned January 2. The guy who called the plays last season, Duane Akina, remains on staff as an assistant head coach.
"If you wanted to be a head coach it's been kind of a place to come through," Mack Brown said.
Four of Muschamp's six defenses at LSU and Auburn have finished among the top 10 nationally. Sure, he has had players but the evidence suggests that Muschamp who, by scheme alone, can improve a defense.
It should be entertaining either way. Texas won at least 10 games for the seventh consecutive season last year, but the defense gave up the seventh-worst season in Longhorn history.
Combine that with a Big 12 that isn't backing down any time soon. There's always Oklahoma to torment the 'Horns. Kansas State has beaten Texas the past two seasons. Texas Tech has almost everyone back. Missouri and Kansas have joined the elite, if only temporarily.
"I think it will take us five years to tell," Brown said of Kansas and Missouri. "You can have somebody who is good for a couple of years, but to me you look at five years."
The bigger question might be, will Muschamp stick around that long? He was in line for the Arkansas job until Bobby Petrino trumped him by leaving the Falcons. The Southern Miss job could have been his, but he wisely turned it down. It's better for Texas and Muschamp that he ended up in Austin.
Better players than Southern Miss, better league, bigger challenge.
"This is a very offensive league," he said. "You're going to face spread-throw teams, spread-run teams. That's where your package can be a little more multiple. There's a vast difference in teams we face."
Part of Muschamp's allure is that he comes from the Bill Belichick-Nick Saban school of "pattern matching." The simple explanation is that the defense decides right before the snap whether to play man or zone.
The more complicated explanation is, well, complicated. Ideally, Muschamp would like to build the type of defense he had at LSU, one that can pattern match and jump in and out of blitzes even after the quarterback has called an audible. The idea is to confuse the quarterback so much that when blitz pressure does come, he has no clue.
His LSU defense ruled the world. With the Dolphins, where his players he said, "couldn't cover a bucket of water," there was a more zone concept. Miami finished second in sacks his only season there. Auburn finished sixth in the nation in total defense last season.
If the opposing quarterback hears "South Eagle," for example, from across the line something funky is coming. Something funky and angry. Muschamp's zone calls are named after places or directions. Blitzes are birds and snakes.
Simple, to the point, predatory.
Two weeks into the job, Muschamp amazed Brown by breaking down film and evaluating players the new coach had barely seen or met.
"He gave a detailed breakdown, in writing, on every signee that we had defensively, and every junior we were looking at," Brown said.
Muschamp was raised in SEC country and is part of Georgia lore. A broken leg as a senior caused him to sink in recruiting. During his fifth day at Georgia practice, Muschamp broke his collarbone. The smart, heady player then rose from walk-on to senior safety co-captain.
His defenses execute like they're playing for their scholarships.
"He's just a fun-loving person," Texas lineman Brian Orapko said. "Off the field you couldn't even tell he's one of those guys who love to yell and get after it.
"Don't take it to where he's abusing us or calling us out. It's really just trying to get us fired up."
The ideal plan, almost, is for Muschamp to be another short timer in the position. That would mean Texas' defenses had improved enough for another of coordinator to leave to become a head coach.
"He also knows I don't care," Brown said. "I can get me another one if they know they want to be a head coach."