{"id":771805,"date":"2026-02-23T20:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/771805\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:30:14","slug":"longhorns-add-former-florida-interim-hc-to-steve-sarkisians-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/771805\/","title":{"rendered":"Longhorns add former Florida interim HC to Steve Sarkisian’s staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas football<\/a> team is aggressively restructuring its coaching staff as it transitions deeper into the SEC landscape under head coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a>. This offseason has been defined by a significant defensive overhaul, notably the return of Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator. Muschamp has already begun poaching elite talent to strengthen the program’s infrastructure, recently hiring senior defensive analyst Garrett Cox<\/a> away from the Georgia Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

Cox brings nearly two decades of experience from powerhouse programs like Alabama and Michigan, and his prior working relationship with Muschamp is expected to accelerate the installation of Texas’ new defensive philosophy. This staff growth coincides with major recruiting wins, such as the commitment of 2027 quarterback Ty Knutson<\/a>, who chose the Longhorns over Oklahoma State.<\/p>\n

According to a report from On3, Billy Gonzales, the Florida Gators interim head football coach for the final five games of the 2025 season, has resurfaced at another SEC program. The Texas Longhorns announced Monday that Gonzales has joined the UT staff<\/a> as an offensive analyst.<\/p>\n

He will work with the program’s receivers. Gonzales has had multiple stints at Florida, most recently as receivers coach from 2023-25. After UF fired Billy Napier as head coach following the Mississippi State game last year, Gonzales was named interim for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

The Gators lost four straight games with him in that role, then closed the regular season by beating Florida State, 40\u201321.<\/p>\n

Gonzales was not retained by new Gators coach Jon Sumrall, but he brings a championship pedigree to Austin.<\/p>\n

He previously served as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Florida under Dan Mullen and coached the Gators receivers during their national title runs in 2005 and 2008.<\/p>\n

He is not the only former Florida staffer making the move to Texas this year, as the Longhorns also hired former Gators running backs coach Jabbar Juluke to fill the same role.<\/p>\n

While the program manages roster changes like the departure of CJ Baxter to Kentucky, the retention of Arch Mannin,g and these veteran coaching additions suggest a clear focus on returning to College Football Playoff contention in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas football team is aggressively restructuring its coaching staff as it transitions deeper into the SEC landscape…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,384,6212],"class_list":{"0":"post-771805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-steve-sarkisian","12":"tag-texas-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116121844016507923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}