Texas A&M Football: Would Will Muschamp Be a Good Fit with Aggies?

The Texas A&M football team will be in the market for a new defensive coordinator after the 2014 season if Mark Snyder is let go as expected, according to Brad Crawford of Saturday Down South. Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin should try to get Will Muschamp to accept the position of defensive coordinator in Aggieland. 

Muschamp was recently fired as the head coach of the Florida Gators. Although he was an average head coach at Florida with a 27-20 overall record, Muschamp has always been an excellent defensive coordinator.

He has experience producing elite defenses in college and the NFL. Muschamp is an excellent recruiter who would have no problem adding elite talent to the Texas A&M program.

Elite Defensive Coach

Muschamp was a great defensive coordinator at every stop he made in college. He ran defenses at LSU, Auburn and Texas before he took the head job at Florida.

The LSU Tigers won the national title in 2003 with Muschamp. The Tigers' defense led the nation in total defense and scoring defense.

Muschamp followed Nick Saban to the NFL and coached the Miami Dolphins' defense in 2005. He returned back to the college ranks in 2006 when he took the defensive coordinator position at Auburn.

In 2007, his defense ranked No. 7 in the country in total yardage allowed. He was tapped by Texas and moved to Austin in 2008.

The year before Muschamp took over the defense, the Longhorns allowed 371.2 yards and 25.3 points per game. In his first season in Austin he lowered those numbers to 342.9 yards and 18.8 points per game.

In 2009 Muschamp produced an elite defense. The Longhorns allowed 251.9 yards and 16.7 points per game. They only allowed 2.2 yards per rushing attempt. 

That Longhorn team went 12-1 and advanced to the national title game, where they lost to Alabama. Muschamp has produced two defenses that have helped his teams to national title games. 

Elite Recruiter

Mushcamp is an excellent recruiter. He took over the Florida program in 2011 and signed top-10 recruiting classes in 2012, 2013 and 2014. 

Defensive recruits from across the country will recognize Muschamp's name, and those who had not previously considered A&M will take a look at the school.

When you replace a coach you always run the risk of losing some of the recruits who have developed a relationship with him. If the Aggies hire Muschamp, his reputation as a defensive coach should limit the defection of any recruits. It should also entice some of the recruits who are on the fence about the current state of affairs on the defensive side of the ball to take the plunge. 

If the Aggies hire an elite defensive coordinator like Muschamp, it should limit any deleterious effects that firing Snyder would have on the 2015 recruiting class. 

Cultural Challenges

There is the question of how well Muschamp would fit into the Texas A&M program and the College Station community. In 2012, Muschamp made a negative comment about College Station that a lot of people have not forgotten about: 

Muschamp is known to be extremely emotional on the sideline during games. It is not clear how well that would go over in Aggieland. Sumlin is as controlled and calm on the sideline as any coach in college football.

It will be interesting to see if Sumlin would be willing to add a coach to his staff who is prone to so many emotional outbursts. The Aggie fans will forgive Muschamp's comments if he puts a championship-caliber defense on the field. 

Staff chemistry is an entirely different issue. Whether or not Muschamp would fit in on Sumlin's staff is a question that only Sumlin can answer.

The Aggies need to have an elite defense if they want to win an SEC championship and compete to be in the College Football Playoff. Muschamp can put an elite defense on the field in College Station and should be at the top of Sumlin's list when he goes looking for a new coordinator.