The Longhorns pulled the trigger, and wisely so, to keep America's top assistant coach in Austin for the long hall. Peter Bean got me to write a biographical profile of Will Muschamp for the 2008 edition of The Eyes of Texas, so, having examined the background of the U.T. head-coach-in-waiting just a few months ago, I can tell you right now that this was the best coaching hire of the 2008-'09 coach-swapping season at any level, collegiate or professional, no ifs, ands, or buts, period, paragraph, end of report, no more calls, case closed, next case, without question, indubitably.

Personally, I'm torn. I had hoped Coach Muschamp would end up at Clemson. Since the rivalry between the Bulldogs and the Tigers is set to be revived in 2013 and 2014, I wanted Will Muschamp to be Fort Hill-bound, in the hope of breathing new life into the storied series.

(We're starting to reach Georgia-Auburn levels of cross-pollination here: Zippy Morocco went to Georgia, Chris Morocco went to Clemson; Jeff Harper went to Georgia, Cullen Harper went to Clemson; Anthony King---no relation, by the way---went to Clemson, Tavarres King went to Georgia; Mark Richt coaches at Georgia, Jon Richt is at Clemson. All we needed was a feisty Georgia alum as the Clemson head coach and the fires would have been stoked, hopefully leading to more regular renewals of an underappreciated rivalry.)

On the other hand, I'm darned glad to know Will Muschamp won't be returning to the S.E.C. There are too many top-shelf head coaches in the league as it is.

Kudos to DeLoss Dodds for signing the right man to a long-term deal. As long as Will Muschamp has an Austin mailing address, Texas will be my second-favorite team.

Go 'Dawgs! Go 'Horns! Boom, Norman Bates and others with suspiciously close relationships with their mothers! That's what I'm talking about!