The worst kept secret in Athens is finally out, as Georgia head coach Kirby Smart announced on Wednesday that former Florida and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp had joined the staff as an analyst.
Muschamp is hardly the first coach to take an analyst role at Georgia. He just happens to have a much higher profile than the likes of Tyson Summers or Jay Johnson. Muschamp had spent the previous five years as the South Carolina head coach. He was fired in November, with the Gamecocks agreeing to pay him $12.9 million.
As an analyst, Muschamp will make $300,000 this coming year. But what does his new role ask him to do?
Smart, who got his start in coaching thanks to Muschamp, provided a little more clarity on what Georgia’s new analyst will be doing.
“He’s already made a lot of strides in terms of helping me [and] helping our staff,” Smart said. “He’ll be able to help coach the coaches, and he’ll be working with the defensive side of the ball. It’s very helpful to have a guy who has been a head coach at two places in our conference.”
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Despite the endings at both South Carolina and Florida, Muschamp was consistently able to identify and develop defensive talent. Javon Kinlaw, who played a massive role in South Carolina’s 20-17 upset of Georgia in 2019, was an offensive tackle prospect coming out of high school. Jaycee Horn, a player on South Carolina’s 2020 team that is expected to be a high draft pick in this upcoming NFL draft, was a 3-star recruit out of Alpharetta, Ga in the 2018 recruiting cycle.
The Bulldogs also have a new defensive backs coach in Jahmile Addae. Having Muschamp be able to chip in there, especially with the secondary being Georgia’s biggest position of concern, will be huge for a room that has seen a ton of turnover in recent weeks.
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“It’s a position that needs to be developed, we have some guys that we’ve been developing that need to step up and play,” Smart said of the secondary. “We’ve also got some young guys that we’ve signed that we just talked about that will have to grow quickly and will get an opportunity to compete for position.”
Muschamp had a number of connections to the Georgia program that helped it make sense for him to join the program at this point. His son Jackson is a walk-on quarterback for the Bulldogs. His nephew Rob is also reportedly joining the staff as an analyst.
The former head coach also graduated and played at Georgia, like Smart. According to his new boss, Muschamp felt the need to settle down for his family after bouncing around the SEC for so long. In the past decade, Muschamp has coached at Florida, Auburn and South Carolina.
The analyst role will allow him to recharge while still remaining connected to the game of football. One only as to look at some recent Alabama analysts — Steve Sarkisian and Butch Jones — to see that this route can pay off in terms of getting another head coaching job.
And for what it’s worth, Smart does eventually expect Muschamp to get back into the on-field coaching world at some point. It just won’t be this season at Georgia.
“I know he’s not through with his coaching days, and that’s really important for him to be able to get out there and have the relationships and go develop a position group and coach,” Smart said.
