Kirby Smart’s old ties to Tuscaloosa aren’t doing him any favors right now. First, Lane Kiffin poached Georgia assistant Ty Hatcher, an offensive mind who spent a year working under Mike Bobo in Athens. That began the slow thinning of the Bulldogs’ staff. Now, the trend continues with another Nick Saban protégé making his move. Steve Sarkisian has struck.

Texas has hired Georgia defensive analyst Garrett Cox, bringing the veteran staffer to Austin to reunite with newly appointed defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. The move was reported by CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz and marks Sarkisian’s latest effort to fortify a Longhorns defense that’s aiming for a playoff run in the 2026 season. Cox will serve as a senior defensive analyst, filling the same role he held in Athens during the 2025 season, with a specific focus on the linebacker unit.

Kirby Smart won’t like this one because Cox’s ties to Georgia football stretch back nearly two decades. He first arrived in Athens as a student assistant on the defensive staff in 2006, working behind the scenes while earning his education degree. That same year, he graduated from the university, launching what would become a winding coaching career that always seemed to circle back to the people he met in those early days. The Bulldogs were his home.

His reunion with Smart and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann in February 2025 felt like a natural homecoming. Cox had worked alongside both men during his four-year stint at Alabama from 2015 to 2018, a golden era in Tuscaloosa that produced two national championships and three SEC titles. Those relationships clearly mattered. And when Smart needed a defensive analyst who understood linebacker play inside and out, Cox was the call. He spent the 2025 season working under Muschamp before the veteran coordinator left for Texas in December, setting the stage for this latest move.

The Alabama years were transformative for Cox. Working under Nick Saban’s demanding system from 2015-2018, he was part of championship runs in 2015 and 2017. Cox absorbed it all, working directly under the then-defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. When Pruitt took the Tennessee head coaching job, Cox followed him to Knoxville for the 2019 season.

Cox’s resume reads like a tour of college football’s elite programs. After Tennessee, he landed at Michigan, then moved to TCU as a defensive analyst in 2024 before Georgia brought him back into the fold for the 2025 season. He’s even participated in the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship and gained NFL experience with the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams. Everywhere he’s gone, the specialty has remained the same: linebackers, the chess pieces of any defense.

Now he heads to Austin to work with Muschamp again. For Sarkisian, this hire will be about bringing in someone who’s seen championship football up close and who can help Texas match that intensity. The Longhorns are chasing their first national title since 2005, and they’re not being subtle about where they’re looking for answers. Two Saban disciples have now raided Kirby Smart’s staff in the same week, a testament to both the quality of people in Athens and the ruthless nature of college football’s coaching carousel.

Kiffin struck first

But Sarkisian wasn’t the first Saban disciple to come knocking on Smart’s door this week. Lane Kiffin got there first, pulling off a move that stung for different reasons. LSU hired Ty Hatcher, a 25-year-old offensive quality control coach who’d spent just one season in Athens working under offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and serving as Smart’s assistant. 

Hatcher has a fast-track resume with stops at Alabama, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma before landing in Georgia. And he’s headed to Baton Rouge to work alongside offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., assisting with quarterbacks and tight ends. What makes this one personal, though, is the history. 

Ty’s father, Chris Hatcher, gave Smart his very first coaching job back in 2000 at Valdosta State for a whopping $8,000 salary. Smart was 24 years old and hungry, and Chris Hatcher took a chance on him. When Smart hired Ty as an offensive quality control coach in February 2025, it felt like the circle completing itself, mentorship repaid, loyalty honored. Except loyalty doesn’t mean much when Lane Kiffin comes calling with a promotion and a chance to build something new at LSU.