Muschamp to succeed Mack Brown at Texas

Nov 18, 2008 - 10:42 PM AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Will Muschamp, who is in his first season as Texas' defensive coordinator, will succeed Mack Brown as the Longhorns' coach, the school announced Tuesday.

The 57-year-old Brown has no plans to step down any time soon, but Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds wants a successor in place to avoid a lengthy search for a replacement when Brown does retire.

"Mack has provided outstanding leadership and continues to elevate our football program to a level as high as anyone in the country," Dodds said. "We hope he stays a long time and he will be our coach as long as he wants.

"But this assures us that when the time comes, we have the right guy to step up into that position and continue to build on the great things we're accomplishing."

Muschamp joined the Longhorns this season after highly successful stints at Auburn, Louisiana State and the NFL's Miami Dolphins. He was the defensive coordinator on the LSU team that won a national championship in 2004.

"This is first and foremost about keeping Will at Texas," Brown said. "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."

According to the school, Muschamp's salary will be raised to $900,000 on January 1. He is currently making $425,000.

"I was really excited when they presented the opportunity to me," said Muschamp, a 1994 graduate of Georgia, where he was a four-year letter winner as a safety. "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."

Muschamp's unit is leading the Big 12 Conference in rushing defense (82.5 ypg) and scoring defense (19.5 ppg).