Texas football: Why Blake Gideon left a defensive coordinator job for Longhorns return

This will be the third stint at Texas for Gideon, who grew up in nearby Leander. In addition to playing for the Longhorns for four seasons, he coached on Steve Sarkiskan’s first Texas staff from 2021-24. Gideon left after the Longhorns’ back-to-back run to the national semifinals to become the defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets ranked 92nd among 134 Football Bowl Subdivision-level schools in total defense at 399.2 yards allowed per game and 69th in scoring defense at 25.0 points during a 2025 season in which Georgia Tech went 9-4 and reached the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Spending the season at Georgia Tech was a learning experience for Gideon. In retrospect, there are things he would have done differently when it comes to schematics and roles for certain players. But he said his biggest regret was not molding the defense's personality in his image in a quicker fashion. "It's OK to be yourself and to press your personality onto that group that you're called to lead," he said.

Blake Gideon has returned to Texas to coach the Longhorns' secondary for the 2026 season. (Getty Images) "There were some unbelievable times, and there were some really forgettable times that we had last year," Gideon said. "But it was necessary for all of us as a group to go through. I needed to scratch that itch, and I needed to figure out where I needed to grow." **MORE:** Texas spring workouts are done, but here's what work remains for Arch Manning and Co. On Jan. 16, Texas announced that it had re-hired Gideon as a defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach. On paper, taking an assistant coaching job after being a defensive coordinator isn’t a lateral move. Sure, Texas pays well — Gideon will earn a salary of $800,000 for the 2026 season — but why would he willingly take a demotion? Speaking to a group of local reporters on April 9, Gideon said he didn't decide to return to Austin for just one reason. This was an opportunity for Gideon, his wife Mary Catherine, and their three children to come back to a Central Texas area that his parents still call home. He played at Texas under Muschamp, who later got him a job as a defensive quality control assistant at Florida. And many of UT's safeties had been recruited by Gideon, so this gives him a chance to finish what he started with those players. Then there's the allure of trying to win an elusive championship with his hometown team. Gideon still thinks about his dropped interception against Texas Tech in 2008 that ended up preventing a potential title run that season, and he started in that 2010 BCS championship game that has left fans wondering whether the Longhorns could have beaten Alabama with a healthy Colt McCoy. Gideon was coaching at UT when the Longhorns were beaten in the College Football Playoff semifinals by Washington and Ohio State. "I want to win an actual championship here. That's important to me," Gideon said. "I've played for it. We've sniffed it a couple of other times, but we haven't followed through."

2011: Texas' Fozzy Whittaker, Blake Gideon and Blaine Irby get ready to lead the Longhorns onto the field for the game against Rice at Royal-Memorial Stadium on Saturday Sept. 3, 2011. [Jay Janner/AMERICAN-STATESMAN] (Austin American-Statesman)