REPORTS: Kirby Smart Moves Will Muschamp Back on Field to Coach Special Teams
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ATHENS - Former Florida and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp is back coaching on the field in the SEC for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.
That’s according to reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and 247Sports. The reported move comes on the same day UGA announced that Bulldogs’ special teams coach Scott Cochran is taking time off.
“Coach Cochran is currently dealing with health issues and is taking time to prioritize his mental health and well-being,” Smart said in a statement released by UGA. “We fully support him as he takes this time to focus on his well-being.”
Muschamp last coached at South Carolina, but was let go near the end of the 2020 season. He arrived in Athens to work for Kirby and the Bulldogs in the spring of 2021.
“As of last week - he will be joining our staff in an off-the-field role as an analyst. He will be working with the defensive side of the ball. He knows the ins and outs of the SEC,” Smart said in February. "I know that he's not done with his coaching days. That is important to him. His family has been his focus lately.”
Muschamp was let go the week before South Carolina’s game with the Bulldogs in November 2020. He previously served as the coach at Florida from 2011-14. Muschamp’s biggest win during his time at Carolina was the Gamecock’s upset win over No. 3 Georgia in Athens in 2019.
Muschamp played for the Bulldogs as a defensive back in the early 1990s. From there he took a winding path from Auburn, West Georgia, Eastern Kentucky, Valdosta State and LSU where ehe was named the defensive coordinator under Nick Saban. He left with Saban for the NFL in 2005, but went to Auburn in 2006 to be the defensive coordinator for the Tigers.
Muschamp was named head-coach-in-waiting under Mack Brown at Texas, but left Austin to take over as the head coach at Florida in 2011. After he was dismissed in Gainesville, Muschamp took the defensive coordinator job at Auburn for the 2015. South Carolina hired him the next year.
Muschamp’s son, Jackson, joined the Bulldogs as a walk-on quarterback in 2020.
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