It's not just about "locking down" Muschamp for the HC coaching gig when Mack retires - it's about locking him down as our DC for the next 3-4 years. There is no way we could keep Muschamp more than 2 years - we knew that when we hired him. But with the plethora of big name schools out there this year looking for HC's this move gives us stability not only for the short term but for the long term. Recruits don't have to worry if the guy sitting across from them will retire/leave for a HC job when it's Mack or Coach Boom sitting across from them - and that would be a constant issue with as often as Will's name is found at the top of short lists.

Muschamp is going to get paid double for doing the same job, all the while learning from one of the best coaches in college football. It's a win-win all the way around.

Last thing - DeLoss Dodds has got to be getting close to retirement - when he retires, Mack will move to that AD position. That's going to happen in 3-5 years, not 8. It may even happen after the 2009 season.

And I don't follow the Longhorns at all.

But doesn't this set up a terrible situation if/when Texas has an off year? Current coach make a few tough on-field decisions, controversial pick for starting QB, whatever?

Isn't the clamor from media/fans for firing the old and moving Muschamp into the head job inevitable at that point?

Seems like this, at minimum, can not fail to be at least a pain in the ass for someone.

He was the defensive coordinator in name only at LSU (Saban's a notorious micromanager of his defenses), and his Auburn defenses weren't that great, were they (at least by SEC standards)? I remember a struggling UGA team coming off losses to Vanderbilt and Kentucky scoring 40+ against Auburn in 2006.

Muschamp's popularity seems to stem from that YouTube video of his screaming profanities at his defense a couple years back.

I just don't get it.

Yawn...college football. Let's make so much money off the backs of our indentured servants that we can pay a guy almost a million bucks a year for the chance to be our head coach 8 years from now. Awesome.

What could possibly be more exciting than watching Texas or Florida or some other powerhouse school win 65-6 against Southwest Nowheresville State A&T? Good times.

Was Nick Saban locked down at LSU or w/the Dolphins? Was Rich Rodriguez locked down at West Virginia? Les Miles stayed at LSU but he was heavily courted by Michigan. When it comes to big times sports, it seems that contracts were made to be broken.

I gotta agree with gorillagogo here. And this isn't one of those stupid "you should write about something I like better" letters; it's a comment on the state of college football, which this story pretty much exemplifies. It's this big-business politics, as the football programs grow ever-more divorced from (and corrupting of) the colleges, that leads to the farcical BCS and regular-season mismatches and has made me not a college football fan anymore. And I know I'm not original and this isn't anywhere near a fresh insight, which only makes the comment worse.

"Student-athletes!" Hahahahahahaha! [wipes tears from eyes]

"Last thing - DeLoss Dodds has got to be getting close to retirement - when he retires, Mack will move to that AD position. That's going to happen in 3-5 years, not 8. It may even happen after the 2009 season."

Does that happen "successfully" anymore? A head coach becoming a successful AD at the Div-1A level? Not only is the complexity of the AD job greater than it use to be, with the salaries what they are now why would a head coach take a high pressure (and less fun) job paying less than one-third what he was making as a retirement job?

AU/UGA in 2006 was 37-15, including an int returned for a TD by UGA, so the defense gave up "only" 30 points (and 446 yards of total offense--ugh).

But yes, the "Boom Motherfucker!" thing accounts for a lot, I think.

Still, I wish he hadn't left Auburn.

Just got to get a little "hooray" in for my fav AL MVP.

Oh, yeah... College football sucks!

These guys are so underpaid and unappreciated. Just think about it, Coach Mack is like the CEO of college football and recruiting in the state of Texas and UT AD Dodds is the equivalent of CFO for the World Bank of Longhorn Nation.

The AD's job description is simple enough, "Make money for UT athletics." This they have done to the tune of no cheap tickets for anyone, except the political elite, ie., the Texas Leg, Goobernator, Speaker of the Out-House, State & Federal judges, mayors, etc... When was the last time you bought a UT football ticket? How about $150 and up. This is all smoke and mirrors to make the other coach-hunting programs (Clemson, Auburn, Washington, Slippery Rock), that Coach Muschamp is a "lock" at UT. Ain't nothing certain except taxes and death.

I think I hear the NFL callin'...