Steve Spurrier reacts to Will Muschamp stepping away from Georgia coaching staff

The Georgia coaching staff recently raised some eyebrows when it failed to list Will Muschamp for the 2025 season. After being with the team since 2021, and coaching in college since 1995, he’s appeared to be away for the season.

Former head coach Steve Spurrier reacted to the news that Muschamp could be stepping away from Georgia on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. There, he joked that Muschamp doesn’t need the money, given how his career has gone.

“He’s one of the coaches that made a fortune when he got fired,” Steve Spurrier said. “Yeah, I like Will. Sure. He’s a good guy.”

Notably, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart recently pushed back on the idea that Will Muschamp has left the team. Instead, he says it was an oversight to not list him on the coaching staff.

“Will is still with us,” Kirby Smart said. “He’s still going to help us. I guess Leland left him off the media guide, y’all gonna have to take that up with him.”

Will Muschamp has, of course, been a head coach at multiple SEC jobs. Perhaps a little ironically, he was a head coach at the same SEC schools that Steve Spurrier led, Florida and South Carolina. Of course, Muschamp struggled at times in each of those jobs and they both eventually ended in his dismissal.

Along the way, Muschamp collected a buyout from Florida of approximately $6.3 million. That was back in 2014. He’d then get another $12.9 million buyout from South Carolina in 2020, which itself was settled, down from $15.3 million.

Muschamp took over Florida from Urban Meyer. In the end, he’d spend four seasons with the Gators and took them to the SEC Championship Game in 2012, losing the Sugar Bowl that season, but had just a 28-21 record overall. At South Carolina, he took over for Steve Spurrier himself. Spurrier left amid a difficult 2015 season and it was a bit of a rebuild. Again, Muschamp would have his best season in his second year, going 9-4 and to the Outback Bowl. He’d end his time there just 28-30.

Muschamp has also been known as an excellent defensive coach throughout the season. He worked as a defensive coordinator at LSU under Nick Saban, Auburn under Tommy Tuberville, Texas under Mack Brown, and most recently Georgia under Kirby Smart.

Georgia was always a special place for Muschamp. A native of Rome, Georgia, Muschamp played defensive back for the school from 1991-1994. There, he’d be the defensive team captain.

Prior to the 2024 season, Will Muschamp took a step back from the defensive coordinator role. He took on the smaller job of analyst. That allowed him to work with the team during the week, but go to Vanderbilt games to watch his son Whit Muschamp on the weekends. Instead, Glenn Schumann, who had been the co-defensive coordinator, took on the role full time. He’ll continue that into 2025.