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Posted
1 minute ago, TexArcher said:

So, a better defense.

No, not necessarily.  The best and worst defenses tend to be simpler and more conservative.

Posted
2 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

If Sark fired PK just because he thought he MIGHT do better, then Sark is a moron. You dont fire a borderline top 8 DC to replace him with a retread. This firing may be the biggest risk is Texas football history if it realky happened that way

 

Hence the only thing that makes sense is that PK and Sark didnt get along (which is what ive been hearing for months and months) and PK basically dared Sark to fire him. Muschamp just happened to be available

 

 

bottom line: if this hire fails in a year or two, Sark is done at Texas

How is Muschamp a retread? Dude landed at Georgia and the first two years they won the NC, and since he's been there they've only missed the CFP once. Go look at his recruiting, too. It's top notch, just as far back as last year. Yeah, his last season here he sucked absolute shit with LB recruiting, but every year he was here we were top 10, but this is why we have Nansen. He's our LB guy and I doubt Sark will let Muschamp near that room.

Look, we both know he didn't fire PK without a plan, or else we wouldn't have immediately gotten the same text saying PK has been fired, Will Muschamp new DC. It wss clearly planned. I don't know why they announced he was fired after all he's done, but maybe he pissed of Sark and CDC in a heated moment. He's been wanting to get back to the PNW, so nothing is stopping him now. I would rather have a DC locked in and not thinking about whether he should leave or not. 

This will help us so much more in recruiting Georgia and Florida, and maybe other states. PK wasn't a recruiter, so that was a handicap. His secondary was above average to dog shit in all but 2 seasons, hence why both he and Akina were fired together. 

5 minutes ago, JBJ said:

No, not necessarily.  The best and worst defenses tend to be simpler and more conservative.

Greg Robinson rises from the grave 

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Posted
10 minutes ago, William Bludworth said:

The Day "problem" is obviously just unfortunate circumstance. We should have beaten them by every metric, but we blew it because of anything that could go wrong went wrong, except on defense. Which is why I'm confused about firing PK instead of letting him leave without making a show of it. Unless he just absolutely went off on Sark or CDC, I'm baffled. I'm happy with the Muschamp hire since it will resonate with a lot more athletes. 

We lost to say this year because sark and arch could only muster 7 points.  Stop. 

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Posted (edited)
9 minutes ago, JBJ said:

No, not necessarily.  The best and worst defenses tend to be simpler and more conservative.

I would say that the best defenses know when to keep it simple, when to make it complex, and when to get aggressive.

I don't think a defense that is always simple and conservative can be a great defense.  It's too easy to diagnose. 

PK did a good job here, but we weren't great.  Muschamp has the ability to build a top 5 defense here, as he's done before.  I don't see how anyone doesn't see this as an upgrade.

Edited by TexArcher
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Posted
1 minute ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

We lost to say this year because sark and arch could only muster 7 points.  Stop. 

Did they happen to muster any other points? You probably don't want to go look at those stats, it's bad. That's called being unprepared. That's on Sark. Arch knows OSU has talent, but he came out the first few weeks scared to death. No one on either offense really needs a back pat. They both looked mostly inept. Sayin did what he was supposed to do, but other than Manny's blown assignment to let Tate score, he and Smith were shut down by Littleton, Manny, and McDonald. I don't remember Taaffe doing much. 

That's why I said earlier in the season Ohio State wasn't winning the NC. Now I feel even better about that prediction, especially since IU beat them. IU and Georgia are the two best teams in the CFP. 

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Posted
6 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

I would say that the best defenses know when to keep it simple, when to make it complex, and when to get aggressive.

I don't think a defense that is always simple and conservative can be a great defense.  It's too easy to diagnose. 

PK did a good job here, but we weren't great.  Muschamp has the ability to build a top 5 defense here, as he's done before.  I don't see how anyone doesn't see this as an upgrade.

I'm with you. I don't get it, either. During the season it was complain about the defense playing soft coverage, which is what PK likes to do, and now we replace him with a guy that knows this league and defense better than almost anyone and people are upset. 

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Posted

Per espn article Muschamp

Quote

served as the Bulldogs' co-defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023 before transitioning to an analyst role in 2024 and then stepping away from coaching in 2025 to spend more time with his family.

WTF

Posted
1 minute ago, TexArcher said:

I would say that the best defenses know when to keep it simple, when to make it complex, and when to get aggressive.

I don't think that a defense that is always simple and conservative can be a great defense.  It's too easy to diagnose. 

PK did a good job here, but we weren't great.  Muschamp has the ability to build a top 5 defense here, as he's done before.  I don't see how anyone doesn't see this as an upgrade.

The greatest defenses of all time are decidedly both simple and passive.  They are well-coached and lean on being elite at a few things.  Think Legion of Boom. 

Posted
9 hours ago, William Bludworth said:

I'm surprised about PK. I read he wanted to go back to the PNW, and that's cool., but why not just put in your resignation and leave rather than be fired? 

I'm guessing that a firing triggers monetary language in his contract and he'd be leaving that money on the table if he resigned. Behind the scenes, it may even have been a quietly agreed and orchestrated deal. I can't see us being vindictive after 5 years of pretty good and (publicly, at least) loyal service. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, Royale with cheese said:

I'm guessing that a firing triggers monetary language in his contract and he'd be leaving that money on the table if he resigned. Behind the scenes, it may even have been a quietly agreed and orchestrated deal. I can't see us being vindictive after 5 years of pretty good and (publicly, at least) loyal service. 

You know, I never thought about that regarding the language. And yean, I think this was agreed on well before today. I, like you and many others, cannot see why we would be vindictive towards a man who brought us from the grave to relevance. 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

I would say that the best defenses know when to keep it simple, when to make it complex, and when to get aggressive.

I don't think that a defense that is always simple and conservative can be a great defense.  It's too easy to diagnose. 

PK did a good job here, but we weren't great.  Muschamp has the ability to build a top 5 defense here, as he's done before.  I don't see how anyone doesn't see this as an upgrade.

PK was excellent. 

DFEI:

2022; #8

2023: #6

2024: #3

2025: #13

SEC scoring averages (SEC play):

2024: 15.56 pts (#1 in the conference)

2025: 17.5 pts (#3 in the conference). Texas happened to play the #1 (Vandy), #8 (Georgia), #9 (OSU), #11 (A&M), and #15 (ARk) offenses in OFEI this season.

I am not sure how this plays out. I think Muschamp is an excellent DC. Just my opinion but I believe this is about style and not results. Sark wants to be more aggressive. He has talked about getting after the QB and playing more man consistently. I think games like UK irked him. Kentucky did not score much, but they were able to control the clock with ball control offense. 

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Posted

Gerry Hamilton 

Posted 3 minutes ago

Will Muschamp thoughts, Jadan Baugh and recruiting

What a day on the Forty Acres Thursday. One of the very best pure coaches on a side of the ball that has ever donned the burnt orange and white has returned to Austin. Make no mistake, this was a very good day for Texas football. 

My thoughts this morning will start there. And I'll also hit on Jadan Baugh and a couple of recruiting thoughts. 

Thoughts on Will Muschamp ...
First off, I met Will Muschamp in 2008 shortly after he was hired at Texas. To say I'm a fan of his as a defensive coach would be an understatement. And pure coach in general. 

As the son of a Texas high school football coach of 40 years, being around coaches on the high school and college level in football and basketball my entire life, Will Muschamp has the characteristics I'm drawn to. Of course Muschamp is an excellent X's and O's coach. He's got multiple National Championship rings, and was the DC of Nick Saban's first NC at LSU. Saban was such a fan, Muschamp went to the Miami Dolphins as the associate head coach and DC. He's been very successful as a DC at every stop. And in recent years he return to Athens to help get Kirby Smart's Georgia Bulldogs over the top with his former college roommate Smart. For those that don't know, Muchamp, Smart and Mike Bobo were all college roommates at Georgia. 

What I absolutely love about Muschamp as a coach and person begins before an install, video breakdown, play call or scheme. It's the intensity, the passionate communication, the non-stop motor, a fire that burns constantly, the way he challenges his defensive players to bring the best out of them, the demand for physicality, the demand to be detail oriented of his players which creates discipline. Does that mean Texas will be No. 1 in defense next year and never commit a penalty? Of course not, this is a sport in which chasing perfection is extremely difficult to attain. But the Texas defense will bring what is needed from a mentality and physicality stand point to have the possibility to take the next step. 

Colin Simmons final season on the Forty Acres will be maximized. Always health related in sports, Texas may well have the best pass rush team in my years covering Texas or being in this business. 

Can't wait to see how Texas puts the pieces together in the portal to give Muschamp the best parts possible for 2026. 

 

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Posted
6 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Per espn article Muschamp

WTF

What's the deal? He got to Georgia in 2021 and helped them win the NC in 2021-2022, and they have only missed the CFP once since he got there. The spending time with family I believe was so he could go see his kid(s) play at Vandy instead of traveling back and forth. 

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Posted
11 hours ago, The_Great_Hornsby said:

We had things rolling on offense at that point compared to when we faced utep. Bad analogy 

Rolling?  Maybe,  but I think something that can be agreed upon is that the person who most often stop Sark and the Horns' offense was Sark.  

During that short run you mentioned he started the game out the same way on offense and if a defense was aggressive at the line of scrimmage and tackled well in space they would keep Wingo from breaking free.

UGA did and Miss. State and Vandy struggled with it.

Muschamp might be a great hire,  I would be more impressed if he helped the UGA staff unravel what DeBoer was doing against them than the three games against Sark, but I could be completely wrong. 

 

Posted
5 minutes ago, William Bludworth said:

What's the deal? He got to Georgia in 2021 and helped them win the NC in 2021-2022, and they have only missed the CFP once since he got there. The spending time with family I believe was so he could go see his kid(s) play at Vandy instead of traveling back and forth. 

Going from Co coordinator to analyst and then stepping away for a year is a head scratcher   It’s not what elites in high pressure fields typically do. When those types need to “spend more time with their family” it’s usually not for that

Posted (edited)
18 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Per espn article Muschamp

WTF

His son was a sr in HS and he wanted to be involved in his life (I believe he wanted to attend his football games).

 

thats done now.

Edited by lilMAC25
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Posted
18 minutes ago, JBJ said:

The greatest defenses of all time are decidedly both simple and passive.  They are well-coached and lean on being elite at a few things.  Think Legion of Boom. 

The 85 Chicago Bears D was far from “passive”.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Sawbonz said:

Going from Co coordinator to analyst and then stepping away for a year is a head scratcher   It’s not what elites in high pressure fields typically do. When those types need to “spend more time with their family” it’s usually not for that

I think he had money to do it and chose family over football. He was a cog in the Georgia system. I do not think Georgia will unravel with Muschamp gone. People are over playing his time there. I am sure he learned some things in Georgia and i hope he brings them to Texas. 

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Posted (edited)
2 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

The 85 Chicago Bears D was far from “passive”.

I did not like the term passive either, but I think what he was saying is that great defenses generally get pressure with 4 and not being reliant on blitzing. You can do that with great talent or through line games/zone blitzes (LeBeau)

Edited by Codaxx
Posted
19 minutes ago, JBJ said:

The greatest defenses of all time are decidedly both simple and passive.  They are well-coached and lean on being elite at a few things.  Think Legion of Boom. 

I mean, sure, you can sit in cover 3 all day when you have the best collection of defensive players on the planet.

Counterpoint: the 1985 Bears defense was famously aggressive and gave up a single digit PPG.

I simply disagree with the notion that simple and passive defenses are generally better than complex and aggressive defenses, particularly in modern college football.  Simple and passive gets chewed up and spit out all the time.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

His son was a sr in HS and he wanted to be involved in his life (I believe he wanted to attend his football games).

 

thats done now.

If that’s what it was good for him. That’s one in a million stuff

Posted
1 minute ago, lilMAC25 said:

His son was a sr in HS and he wanted to be involved in his life (I believe he wanted to attend his football games).

 

thats done now.

I don't see anything wrong with that, even in the cutthroat world of college coaching.  

As a comparison, my Marine father missed at least a third of my childhood, because of deployments that were for periods of a year, six months, eight months, four months, etc., and even when he was home he was gone for work before I woke up, got home late, and worked most Saturdays. He also was on a ship in the Pacific when my kid brother was born.  He made those sacrifices because he loved and believed in his job, but he still has some regret of how much time he missed when we were kids at home.

So I get why Muschamp hit pause on his career.  You don't get that time with your kids back.  And while all things being equal I'd prefer a new DC hire who wasn't coming off of a gap year, it didn't seem that hard for Greg Robinson to shake off the rust when he had to take over for Manny _iaz in 2013.  Our defense wasn't exactly elite that year, but the transformation of our defense when Robinson took over was night and day.

I'd probably prefer that PK have stayed, but what do I know, and I'm sure I'm missing some behind the scenes discussions about why he's departing.  In any event, he's gone, and programs lose coordinators all the time for all sorts of reasons.  So if we need a new DC, I sure as hell like the Muschamp hire.

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Posted
13 minutes ago, Codaxx said:

I think he had money to do it and chose family over football. He was a cog in the Georgia system. I do not think Georgia will unravel with Muschamp gone. People are over playing his time there. I am sure he learned some things in Georgia and i hope he brings them to Texas. 

I don’t think it will affect UGA much. I DO think it could have a positive effect on Texas.

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Posted (edited)
24 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

Going from Co coordinator to analyst and then stepping away for a year is a head scratcher   It’s not what elites in high pressure fields typically do. When those types need to “spend more time with their family” it’s usually not for that

We don't know, but it was reported he stepped away so he and his wife could focus on their kids in their last years.  He was originally supposed to be our DC when Sark was hired, but something fell through. 

Also, he wasn't the primary DC, just the co-DC, so he didn't have the same high pressures that other coaches had. He wasn't leaving unless he got an offer he couldn't turn down (us) because of who we are in the name, and we are in his league now. If anyone doesn't think that will help, I don't know what to say. Guys like him with his passion and genius level defensive IQ don't just stop remembering what they're good at. He went back to Georgia because he, Smart, and Bobo were all roommates in college. It made sense, he got them two NC's in his first two years to get them over the hump. 

I don't get why people just went from chastising PK in the game threads to now being upset that he's getting to go home and we get another elite DC. It's a win-win. 

Edited by William Bludworth
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Posted

After having a day to reflect on the DC change, I'm pretty excited to see how the new defense helps the offense. While the PK defense was very good, it's bend not break philosophy produced fewer possessions for the Texas offense, and less time on the clock. The Muschamp defense should produce more three and outs and quickly stalled drives, although they will give up more big plays. All of those things put the ball back into the hands of the offense more often. We have a ton of offensive talent, and if teams want to try and get into a scoring fest, bring it on. Sark will figure out his OL and RB issues, and by fixing those the WR's, who are still very good, will look much better. I'm good with this change, even if one of the reasons for it was PK getting tired of Sark's shit and wanting to go back west. 

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Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

I mean, sure, you can sit in cover 3 all day when you have the best collection of defensive players on the planet.

Counterpoint: the 1985 Bears defense was famously aggressive and gave up a single digit PPG.

I simply disagree with the notion that simple and passive defenses are generally better than complex and aggressive defenses, particularly in modern college football.  Simple and passive gets chewed up and spit out all the time.

But to seriously respond to this.  Take a perfect DC who knows exactly when he needs to be aggressive to beat an offense:

- this DC will not do much with an outmatched defense because he knows none of his players can execute anything beyond simple and the offense will exploit any openings he creates

- this DC will use aggression and complexity to cover up his defensive weaknesses with strengths when his defense has both, relative to the offense's weaknesses and strengths

- this DC will not do anything to compromise the soundness of his defense when he knows his players can defend everything the opposing offense can throw at them

And, like, we can look at Tech, Toledo, Texas, Mizzou, SMU from this year and see that the good defenses tend to be the most simple.  That doesn't mean necessarily that Oklahoma/Michigan don't exist, either.  And we just know from advanced stats guys that blitz rate and coverage diversity tend to increase a defense's EPA.

Edited by JBJ
Posted
11 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:

If that’s what it was good for him. That’s one in a million stuff

 

8 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I don't see anything wrong with that, even in the cutthroat world of college coaching.  

As a comparison, my Marine father missed at least a third of my childhood, because of deployments that were for periods of a year, six months, eight months, four months, etc., and even when he was home he was gone for work before I woke up, got home late, and worked most Saturdays. He also was on a ship in the Pacific when my kid brother was born.  He made those sacrifices because he loved and believed in his job, but he still has some regret of how much time he missed when we were kids at home.

So I get why Muschamp hit pause on his career.  You don't get that time with your kids back.  And while all things being equal I'd prefer a new DC hire who wasn't coming off of a gap year, it didn't seem that hard for Greg Robinson to shake off the rust when he had to take over for Manny _iaz in 2013.  Our defense wasn't exactly elite that year, but the transformation of our defense when Robinson took over was night and day.

I'd probably prefer that PK have stayed, but what do I know, and I'm sure I'm missing some behind the scenes discussions about why he's departing.  In any event, he's gone, and programs lose coordinators all the time for all sorts of reasons.  So if we need a new DC, I sure as hell like the Muschamp hire.

It might have been at Vandy.

Posted
16 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

The 85 Chicago Bears D was far from “passive”.

As well as the Ravens,  a few of the Parcell Giant defenses,  and......

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Posted
14 minutes ago, TexArcher said:

I mean, sure, you can sit in cover 3 all day when you have the best collection of defensive players on the planet.

Counterpoint: the 1985 Bears defense was famously aggressive and gave up a single digit PPG.

I simply disagree with the notion that simple and passive defenses are generally better than complex and aggressive defenses, particularly in modern college football.  Simple and passive gets chewed up and spit out all the time.

Wasn’t that 2000s Baltimore defense aggressive too?

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Posted (edited)
12 minutes ago, South Austin said:

I don't see anything wrong with that, even in the cutthroat world of college coaching.  

As a comparison, my Marine father missed at least a third of my childhood, because of deployments that were for periods of a year, six months, eight months, four months, etc., and even when he was home he was gone for work before I woke up, got home late, and worked most Saturdays. He also was on a ship in the Pacific when my kid brother was born.  He made those sacrifices because he loved and believed in his job, but he still has some regret of how much time he missed when we were kids at home.

 

 

I worked 3 jobs , at least 1/2 of the holidays and weekends included, to make ends meet , for most of my three kids high school and junior high years. When I dropped the oldest off at college , it felt like I was at his funeral , because I wasn’t around enough. 20 years later , it still hurts. Did what I had to I guess, but I so wish it wasn’t so. 

Edited by El Squared
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Posted
1 minute ago, El Squared said:

I worked 3 jobs , at least 1/2 of the holidays and weekends included, to make ends meet , for most of my three kids high school and junior high years. When I dropped the oldest off at college , it felt like I was at his funeral , because I wasn’t around enough. 20 year later , it still hurts. Did what I had to I guess, but I so wish it wasn’t so. 

Sorry that it hurts you, but bravo to you for making the sacrifice.

Posted
52 minutes ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

We lost to say this year because sark and arch could only muster 7 points.  Stop. 

You’re going after him when he said (Regarding tOSU game)

 

”what could go wrong did go wrong, except on defense”.

 

hes literally blaming Sark for the loss to tOSU, and saying “PK DID A DAMN GOOD JOB”.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, El Squared said:

I worked 3 jobs , at least 1/2 of the holidays and weekends included, to make ends meet , for most of my three kids high school and junior high years. When I dropped the oldest off at college , it felt like I was at his funeral , because I wasn’t around enough. 20 years later , it still hurts. Did what I had to I guess, but I so wish it wasn’t so. 

Should have just been poor you'd feel better now without all that "pain" 

Posted
3 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Wasn’t that 2000s Baltimore defense aggressive too?

I don't think we have advanced stats from then, but no.  They had a dominant front 4.  Very low blitz rate, Cover 2.  Essentially, the last notable Cover 2 defense.

Posted
7 minutes ago, El Squared said:

I worked 3 jobs , at least 1/2 of the holidays and weekends included, to make ends meet , for most of my three kids high school and junior high years. When I dropped the oldest off at college , it felt like I was at his funeral , because I wasn’t around enough. 20 years later , it still hurts. Did what I had to I guess, but I so wish it wasn’t so. 

Same boat.  I work hard for my kids.  It’s tough.   Tough on me. Tough on them.  But I try to carve out time and schedule daddy daughter stuff

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Posted

Big fan of Will Muschamp.  I’m sure this is better aligned to what sark wants.  Maybe it was a personality conflict, maybe he was doing PK a solid financially?   But if we suck on D, which I don’t think we will, Sark is dead in the water.  He gets to throw Flood overboard, saving him as a life raft like Mack did with Manny.   But this has to work for Sark

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Posted (edited)
7 minutes ago, JBJ said:

I don't think we have advanced stats from then, but no.  They had a dominant front 4.  Very low blitz rate, Cover 2.  Essentially, the last notable Cover 2 defense.

Is aggression JUST blitz rate though?

I mean, the Raven Defense was ACTIVELY trying to get INTs and force fumbles to score with (on D) because their offense had a 5 game stretch where it didn’t score a TD.

Edited by lilMAC25
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Posted
11 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Wasn’t that 2000s Baltimore defense aggressive too?

believe that was the Marvin Lewis defenses. He coached LBs under Cowher. If I remember correctly that was heavily influenced by Dick LeBeau. Lot of zone blitzes that used deception to rush 4 and play 7 back in zone coverage. Looked aggressive but was always sound.  Rex Ryan and Wink were different. 

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Posted
11 hours ago, Nicole44 said:

I don’t have to like him. I want him to win bc I’m proud of my school. I will never ever root against my school nor root for them to lose merely because I think Sark is a shit person,. I want to win. 

You have to replace the I key on your keyboard like twice a year, right?

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Posted (edited)
23 minutes ago, lilMAC25 said:

Is aggression JUST blitz rate though?

I mean, the Raven Defense was ACTIVELY trying to get INTs and force fumbles because their offense had a 5 game stretch where it didn’t score a TD.

No, but it's one of the easier measures to find about playcalling.  I think people just confuse sound defense with aggressive (they are usually opposites), or like hard-hitting LB aggression with defensive philosophy aggression.  Punching balls out and jumping passes aren't inherently indicative of an aggressive philosophy on defense.

Edited by JBJ
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