Life is always uncertain,
but that doesn't mean that things won't work in your favor.
"It's close to my family and my wife's family, and like Texas, Florida is
just a tremendous place in a great conference. I wouldn't have left for
any other job." - Will Muschamp
Logical, but still a surprise.
Georgia Bulldog fans aren't happy, either.
Muschamp, a Georgia native and former Bulldogs’ safety, has been named the new head coach of the Gators, replacing Urban Meyer. This likely won’t go over well in Athens, where many fans had hoped as recently as a year ago that Muschamp would return to the Dogs as defensive coordinator (replacing Willie Martinez) and/or as an assistant head coach to Mark Richt. There also was the thought he could possibly replace Richt one day.
Mike Bianchi is not so thrilled by the hire.
The last time University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley had to replace a legendary coach, he chose a defensive coordinator who had never before been a head coach.
Let's hope this time Foley has better luck with the same strategy.
Muschamp is at the Taj Mahal.
Will Muschamp has passed on his share of head coaching opportunities.
He was already next in line at one of the Taj Mahals of head coaching jobs. But on Saturday, he landed perhaps the Taj Mahal when Florida named him as its next head coach.
No buyout clause?
Muschamp's contract didn't have a buyout, and the "coach-in-waiting" title was more to keep him in Austin than to keep others from taking him. The promise to hand over the reins was enough to keep him from hopping to jobs at schools like Pitt, Louisville, Miami or a number of other openings in the SEC.
Muschamp got advice from Jimbo Fisher about the HCIW role.
Fisher said he helped Muschamp go through the head coach in waiting process at Texas – the kind of experience Fisher went through at Florida State. The two men worked well with one another over the years. And now they'll be working against one another.
The Gators want to be Land Thieves. There is a good precedent for this hire.
For all those Texas haters out there...
You Texas haters—I don't know why you hate Texas; just because you couldn't get in there, I'm sure Rice and Harvard are fine institutions—think this is a good day. You think there's disarray on the Forty Acres.
My advice would be to have your laughs now because the laughing will end Sept. 3, 2011. That's when Texas will resume its greatness with a victory over Rice. I mean, we may have fallen behind Texas A&M, Baylor and Oklahoma State in football, we maybe can't even dream of beating OU anymore, but we've got Rice's number now and forever.
Actually, these openings are an opportunity for Mack Brown to remake his staff, to hire new coaches with new ideas and to bring more energy back to the program. Some of you have suggested Brown should have stepped aside so Texas wouldn't lose Will Muschamp.
Brown has earned the right to coach as long as he wants to coach. He has built one of the best programs in America, and he has represented the university with class. I hope he says until he's at least Joe Paterno's age.
We will survive.
With new coaches come new ideas and a fresh perspective and sometimes new energy. In the last eight seasons, Brown has had four different defensive coordinators, and each one of them has been better than the last. And a really good Texas football program became a great Texas football program. The Longhorns have gone 74-16 and twice played for the national championship.
The search is on.
"Our commitment remains that we will build the best coaching staff in the country and we will begin a nationwide search immediately," Brown said.
A good omen.
Great reporting...Following people around.
Read as much or as little into this as you like, but Will Muschamp and Major Applewhite left the Longhorns’ football coaches offices at the same time Sunday afternoon.