Griffin McVeigh: Pete Kwiatkowski, DC
One of the final hires that Steve Sarkisian made on his staff was arguably the most important one. Many names throughout the southeast were named, ranging from Barry Odom from Arkansas to Jeremy Pruitt from Tennessee. In the end, a late-night report came out that Texas’ next defensive coordinator would be longtime Washington coach Pete Kwiatkowski.
He had spent his entire football coaching career in the Pacific Northwest, working with Chris Petersen at Boise State and Washington. A new style of defense will be coming to Austin, going away from the traditional three or four down lineman. A lot more defensive backs are going to be on the field with Kwiatkowski running nickel/dime well over the majority of the time. An elite-level defense is what will catapult the Longhorns to a different level.
Success on the field is going to translate to success in the recruiting world. With the positional coaches Sarkisian has surrounded Kwiatkowski with, that should come naturally. The prolonged and thorough search for a defensive coordinator is going to pay off for Texas.