Published December 14, 2010 - 5:02am
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Fast Facts:
He was born Rome, GA but grew up in Gainesville, FL where he attended Elementary school. His family then moved back to Rome and he attended Darlington School playing football, basketball, baseball and running track. He even had a 17 inch metal rod placed in his leg before his Senior season and kept persevering to walk-on at UGA.
Muschamp played on the UGA football team as a Defensive Back in 1991 and was a Co-Captain his senior year. He played in two bowl games and graduated in 1994. He has coached at two other SEC schools, Auburn as a Grad assistant and defensive coordinator, and LSU where he was the Defensive coordinator under Nick Saban when LSU won the National Championship in 2003. His defense that year led the nation in both scoring and total defense.
He has a brief stop with the Miami Dolphins in the NFL before coming back to college coaching. His teams were all ranked in the top of the national college scoring and defensive categories’. Heading to Texas, he was offered the Head Coach-in-waiting position under Mack Brown after one year on the Coaching staff. He was a large part of Texas’ 25-2 run.
So there are UGA grads as Head Coaches at two SEC East rivals, Derek Dooley at Tennessee and Will Muschamp at Florida. The Bulldawg Nation should be proud of the fact UGA has produced quality football sons. How will this affect the games coming up? As much as we’d like to think it will give us some edge on the field, these two guys will be very determined to win, especially vs. Georgia
Assuming Muschamp will have his pick of Florida recruits, he also bring his knowledge and familiarity of Texas prep athletes, one of the most fertile recruiting grounds there is. Can’t be good for the Dawgs having another big fish swimming in the SEC East pond.
Florida – Will Muschamp
Tennessee – Derek Dooley
South Carolina – Steven Orr Spurrier
I think most UGA fans will be asking themselves “Ok, does this mean we can beat Florida now?” yes and no. It is a fact that players win games, not coaches. However, the mental makeup of a team often resides with its head Coach. UGA’s Mark Richt has a calm, quiet way of leadership. Will Muschamp is more of the “Fire and Brimstone” type. I believe most UGA fans want to see more emotion on the UGA sideline. There seems a lack of urgency the last few years within the UGA program. With the hire of Muschamp, Florida AD Jeremy Foley has gotten a “win now” kind of coach.
It will be interesting to see how a Defensive oriented coach does at Florida which has been an offensively dominated program since 1991 and the arrival of Steve Spurrier. Will UF fans welcome a coach who has a UGA pedigree? One thing for sure is if the Gators lose to UGA the next few years, the seat will get very hot very fast for Muschamp.
I am a graduate if the University of Virginia, not Georgia.
Derek, did you forget your JD in ’94?
I graduated from the Charlottesville, Va., school in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in government and foreign affairs, and went on to earn my law degree from Georgia in 1994. I am a Bulldog at heart!
Sorry Folks, I played vs. Derek in HS when I was at cross-town rival Cedar Shoals in Athens and of course knew the strong Dawg connection. I “over looked” his impropriety of going to Virginia to get his undergrad degree……he did learn his lesson with a JD from UGA in 1994.
I don’t think I would consider Dooley and Muschamp “big fish in the pond” just yet. They both have a long way to go before you can put them in company with Spurrier.
Did anyone watch Texas football this year? Texas has as much talent as any school in the country and more than most. Their defense was bad….. I mean bad…. Gave up 38 points in a loss to K-State? Could not stop Baylor? Over matched against Iowa State? Texas just had one of its worst years in recent memory.
Muskrat has a long way to go before he can be mentioned with the Ole Ball Coach.
Richt is the same guy he was when he was compiling a great record a few years ago. What changed was the arrival of elite recruiters in the persons of Spurrier at South Carolina, Saban at Alabama, and at the time, Kiffin at Tennessee. And now FSU is back on fire in recruiting with Jimbo Fisher.
The calm Richt personality you mention probably isn’t the most effective for recruiting in the heightened competitive environment, which now requires some real salesmanship. And while this is an older post, it can’t be good that Weiss and Quinn will be Muschamp’s coordinators at Florida… Four- and five-star kids will salivate at the chance of getting a head-start on learning the pro game with the Gators.
Doesn’t look good for the Dawgs moving forward.