Will Muschamp talks about former mentor joining him in Carolinas

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS FOOTBALL

When Will Muschamp takes the field in next year’s season-opener, it’ll be against a former mentor.

When South Carolina opens against North Carolina, Muschamp will get the chance to coach against his former boss and mentor, Mack Brown, who was officially named head coach at UNC on Tuesday.

“I’m happy coach Mack’s back in a good situation. Obviously he was at North Carolina and had great success there,” Muschamp said. “He’ll do a great job; an outstanding football coach. You look at what he did at the University of Texas. When he came there, obviously they were struggling with a lot of different things. [He] really built that program to where it is now. He’ll do a really good job.”

Also see: Loaded report with team scoop, recruiting notes and NFL draft scoop

Muschamp spent three seasons under Brown’s tutelage at Texas, serving as the Longhorns’ defensive coordinator from 2008-10.

With those two together, the Longhorns went 30-9 in three seasons, 17-7 in the Big 12 with a conference championship, a Fiesta Bowl win and a trip to the BCS National Title game in 2009, Muschamp’s second season under Brown.

But the bond between the two goes a little deeper than that.

When Muschamp arrived in Austin to take over the defense, he was named the head coach in waiting, meaning he’d take over as Texas’s head coach when Brown retired.

Also see: How Gamecock commits did in their games this week

That never ultimately materialized with Muschamp’s taking the head-coaching job at Florida before winding up at South Carolina.

Since leaving Brown’s umbrella, Muschamp is 21-16 as a head coach, with two more games remaining this season, and he’s led his team to bowl games in six of his seven seasons.

Through all of it, though, Muschamp said he took a lot and learned a lot of advice from Brown that he still uses today, even though he never took over for Brown at Texas.

“You learn from everybody you work for, as far as different ways to do things and different ways to manage things and I think Mack was a master at managing the organization,” Muschamp said. “He did a fantastic job with those things and I really learned a lot from him that have certainly helped me in my career and I’m very appreciative of that.”

Also see: Will Muschamp's full press conference recap

The Gamecocks (6-5, 4-4) open up against the Tar Heels next season at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, Brown’s first official game at North Carolina.

Before that, though, Muschamp’s team takes on Akron at noon this Saturday and will play in a December bowl game.