Texas Athletic Director Deloss Dodds, flanked by Mack Brown and Will Muschamp at the start of the weekly press conference, spoke about the decision and the changing landscape of college football.
"This is a plan that has been enthusiastically agreed to by Mack Brown, President Powers and the Board of Regents," Dodds said. "With the landscape in college football and all of the changes around the country, I've been looking at this for the last couple of years. When it's not working, you have to go outside and make changes. Things are going well here, it's working, so it's best to be prepared to build from inside and that's what we're doing."
The timeline for the succession plan is not known at this time. The new contract calls for Muschamp to earn $900,000 annually starting January 1, 2009.
Mack Brown beamed, "He's had several opportunities to interview for head coaching jobs, but we wanted him to stay here. I'm going to continue coaching as I'm enjoying it. I have eight years left on my contract, I am not thinking at all about moving on, it's simply that I think Will is a great young coach, a perfect fit for this place and he wants to stay. Nothing will change in our structure. He will continue in his roll as defensive coordinator and when the time comes, will be ready to step in and take over the program.
Will Muschamp’s immediate success at the Forty Acres and his talented resume has drawn head coaching interest from Clemson, Tennessee, and any other potential Head coaching openings in major college football. Those offers have forced the formally agreed upon succession plan to be announced publically at this time.
Muschamp said, "I'm not in any hurry to be a head coach and hope Coach Brown's around for many more years. I'm just glad I'm going to be able to stay at Texas. This is the top program in the country, my family loves it here and there's no better person to watch and learn from about running a football program than Coach Brown.
The University of Georgia graduate Will Muschamp is in his first year at the University of Texas as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Muschamp, in his fourteenth season as a coach, was a 2007 Broyles Award Finalist. Prior to his stint in Austin, the fiery coach spent the previous two years as defensive coordinator at Auburn, and seven of the last eight years as a defensive coordinator in college and the NFL (Auburn, NFL’s Miami Dolphins, and LSU).
Muschamp was a four-year lettermen at safety for the Georgia Bulldogs from 1991 to 1994, a defensive co-captain as a senior, and was a part of two bowl teams.