In an industry where defensive coaches often come off as red-faced fire-breathers, Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski is the furthest from that caricature. But it wasn’t always that way, especially in his early years as a coach, fresh off a stint as an All-American defensive lineman at Boise State.
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“When I played, it was on,” Kwiatkowski said with a smile. “When I was a younger coach, I was a lot more pissing vinegar. But as you get older, you get a lot more done catching flies with honey.”
Over time, Kwiatkowski grew more comfortable in his natural disposition, choosing a measured tone over running hot. It has worked well for him, and his teams won 11 conference championships in his first 30 years as an assistant coach. The coordinator known colloquially by his peers and players as “P.K.” got his 12th this month, helping Texas win the Big 12 in his 36th season.
As the No. 3 Longhorns prepare to face their biggest defensive challenge — No. 2 Washington will bring one of the most prolific passing offenses in the country to Monday night’s Sugar Bowl — Kwiatkowski’s defense will be front and center. He is no stranger to Texas’ foe: He spent seven years on the Huskies’ staff before accepting Steve Sarkisian’s offer to run the Longhorns’ defense.
Moving to the Forty Acres was a major change for Kwiatkowski, who spent his entire playing and coaching career in the Northwest, working in the Big Sky, the WAC, the Mountain West and the Pac-12. But he and Sarkisian had squared off against each other in the Pac-12 and knew each other through past recruiting travels and mutual coaching friends.
“The timing was right for me to try and do something in a different part of the country,” Kwiatkowski said. “It being Texas, growing up, you watch Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma, all these big programs. I was very aware of the situation of Texas over the years, and I wanted to be a part of trying to get it right.”
Kwiatkowski’s first season was full of growing pains. The Longhorns didn’t have the front-line talent nor the depth that have defined the 2023 team. In 2021, Texas ranked 114th in the country in yards allowed per rush (5.15). The Longhorns allowed more than 200 rushing yards on six occasions in their 5-7 season, including over 300 twice.
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“Nobody on the team ever lost like that,” senior defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat said this week. “So we told ourselves we were never going to lose like that again, and we were going to continue to go and play hard and believe in what our coaches got.”
What helped pull Texas from that debacle, in addition to an influx of talent and substantial development of the talent already on hand, was continuity. Each of the five on-field defensive assistants who were on Texas’ 2021 staff remain on the team today: Kwiatkowski, defensive line coach Bo Davis, secondary coach Terry Joseph, safeties coach Blake Gideon and inside linebackers coach Jeff Choate, who recently accepted the Nevada head coaching job but will remain with the Longhorns through the College Football Playoff.
That allowed for growth within Kwiatkowski’s defense. When he arrived, he was the Longhorns’ third defensive coordinator in three seasons.
“It’s huge,” Joseph said. “We took our lumps together. We have a point of reference. ‘Hey, remember a year ago, we did it like that? This is how we want to change it.’ So we’re not always going back to ground zero to build on the system. Now I can say, ‘I know the safety is going to do this, I know the linebacker is going to do that,’ because we’ve been around each other so long.”
It has allowed veterans like Sweat, defensive lineman Byron Murphy, linebacker Jaylan Ford, defensive back Jahdae Barron and several others who have been at Texas each of the last three seasons to grow and perfect their roles. That growth has also come in large part because of Kwiatkowski’s focus on details. Part of that stems from 14 years working under longtime Boise State and Washington coach Chris Petersen, one of Kwiatkowski’s biggest coaching influences.
Petersen showed Kwiatkowski to “be thorough, turn over every stone and stick to the process. Keep chopping wood, keep hammering away, whatever the issue is that you’re trying to get accomplished,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s more the mindset of, ‘It’s not gonna happen overnight, you’ve got to stick to the process and stick to what you believe in.’”
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Deep down, those details always mattered to Kwiatkowski. As a college defensive lineman, he remembers being hyper-focused on offensive line splits and weight distribution, scouring tape for tells from his opponents to give him an edge. It led to success then, and he carried into his coaching career.
His patience and process-oriented approach proved vital to Texas’ defensive improvement. In 2022, the Longhorns took a major step forward and were a top-25 run defense, allowing just 3.48 yards per rush. This year, they’ve allowed 2.87 yards per rush, fifth-best in the FBS.
Texas has also been one of the best defenses on third down this season, ranking second nationally with conversions on just 26.5 percent of third downs and in the top 10 in the FBS in both red zone scoring defense and red zone touchdown rate. Having athletic talents like Sweat and Murphy and a respected defensive line coach in Davis has helped. But getting all facets of the defense to work seamlessly together consistently is a testament to Kwiatkowski’s efforts.
And what he lacks in fiery personality is more than made up by the rest of the defensive staff.
“He’s more of the mad scientist,” Joseph said. “But we have Bo, Coach Choate and Blake who are highly intense guys. And then you have me, who can fit in where needed to help out either side. It’s been a good blend for us, and we do a good job of playing off each other on our staff. And I think the kids feel that.”
Although Kwiatkowski isn’t a yeller, Joseph calls him “sneakily intense.” Edge rusher Barryn Sorrell said that when he critiques players, it’s professional.
“It’s definitely different,” Sorrell said. “It’s a good thing when you’ve got a coach that can say what’s needed and everybody can understand it and actually get the message.”
Joseph called Kwiatkowski “a true team player with a very low ego.”
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“When I was younger, I thought I had to yell a lot,” Kwiatkowski said. “But at the end of the day, that’s not who I am.”
The challenge his former team brings is a significant one. Washington has a Heisman Trophy finalist at quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.), an offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award as the best unit in the country and an elite receiving corps. The 343 passing yards per game the Huskies average lead the FBS.
As Kwiatkowski and his staff put their finishing touches on the plan to slow the Huskies down, it will be done with the same measured, detail-oriented approach that has gotten the Longhorns’ defense this far.
“It just goes to show, if you stick to the process and you get with a bunch of good coaches and dudes and we’re all trying to do the same thing, and get the players to believe and trust us, trust each other, they start having success,” Kwiatkowski said. “That creates confidence, and you get that synergy that we’ve gotten this year.”
(Photo: John Rivera / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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“When I played, it was on,” Kwiatkowski said with a smile. “When I was a younger coach, I was a lot more pissing vinegar. But as you get older, you get a lot more done catching flies with honey.”
Over time, Kwiatkowski grew more comfortable in his natural disposition, choosing a measured tone over running hot. It has worked well for him, and his teams won 11 conference championships in his first 30 years as an assistant coach. The coordinator known colloquially by his peers and players as “P.K.” got his 12th this month, helping Texas win the Big 12 in his 36th season.
As the No. 3 Longhorns prepare to face their biggest defensive challenge — No. 2 Washington will bring one of the most prolific passing offenses in the country to Monday night’s Sugar Bowl — Kwiatkowski’s defense will be front and center. He is no stranger to Texas’ foe: He spent seven years on the Huskies’ staff before accepting Steve Sarkisian’s offer to run the Longhorns’ defense.
Moving to the Forty Acres was a major change for Kwiatkowski, who spent his entire playing and coaching career in the Northwest, working in the Big Sky, the WAC, the Mountain West and the Pac-12. But he and Sarkisian had squared off against each other in the Pac-12 and knew each other through past recruiting travels and mutual coaching friends.
“The timing was right for me to try and do something in a different part of the country,” Kwiatkowski said. “It being Texas, growing up, you watch Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma, all these big programs. I was very aware of the situation of Texas over the years, and I wanted to be a part of trying to get it right.”
Kwiatkowski’s first season was full of growing pains. The Longhorns didn’t have the front-line talent nor the depth that have defined the 2023 team. In 2021, Texas ranked 114th in the country in yards allowed per rush (5.15). The Longhorns allowed more than 200 rushing yards on six occasions in their 5-7 season, including over 300 twice.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Nobody on the team ever lost like that,” senior defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat said this week. “So we told ourselves we were never going to lose like that again, and we were going to continue to go and play hard and believe in what our coaches got.”
What helped pull Texas from that debacle, in addition to an influx of talent and substantial development of the talent already on hand, was continuity. Each of the five on-field defensive assistants who were on Texas’ 2021 staff remain on the team today: Kwiatkowski, defensive line coach Bo Davis, secondary coach Terry Joseph, safeties coach Blake Gideon and inside linebackers coach Jeff Choate, who recently accepted the Nevada head coaching job but will remain with the Longhorns through the College Football Playoff.
That allowed for growth within Kwiatkowski’s defense. When he arrived, he was the Longhorns’ third defensive coordinator in three seasons.
“It’s huge,” Joseph said. “We took our lumps together. We have a point of reference. ‘Hey, remember a year ago, we did it like that? This is how we want to change it.’ So we’re not always going back to ground zero to build on the system. Now I can say, ‘I know the safety is going to do this, I know the linebacker is going to do that,’ because we’ve been around each other so long.”
It has allowed veterans like Sweat, defensive lineman Byron Murphy, linebacker Jaylan Ford, defensive back Jahdae Barron and several others who have been at Texas each of the last three seasons to grow and perfect their roles. That growth has also come in large part because of Kwiatkowski’s focus on details. Part of that stems from 14 years working under longtime Boise State and Washington coach Chris Petersen, one of Kwiatkowski’s biggest coaching influences.
Petersen showed Kwiatkowski to “be thorough, turn over every stone and stick to the process. Keep chopping wood, keep hammering away, whatever the issue is that you’re trying to get accomplished,” Kwiatkowski said. “It’s more the mindset of, ‘It’s not gonna happen overnight, you’ve got to stick to the process and stick to what you believe in.’”
ADVERTISEMENT
Deep down, those details always mattered to Kwiatkowski. As a college defensive lineman, he remembers being hyper-focused on offensive line splits and weight distribution, scouring tape for tells from his opponents to give him an edge. It led to success then, and he carried into his coaching career.
His patience and process-oriented approach proved vital to Texas’ defensive improvement. In 2022, the Longhorns took a major step forward and were a top-25 run defense, allowing just 3.48 yards per rush. This year, they’ve allowed 2.87 yards per rush, fifth-best in the FBS.
Texas has also been one of the best defenses on third down this season, ranking second nationally with conversions on just 26.5 percent of third downs and in the top 10 in the FBS in both red zone scoring defense and red zone touchdown rate. Having athletic talents like Sweat and Murphy and a respected defensive line coach in Davis has helped. But getting all facets of the defense to work seamlessly together consistently is a testament to Kwiatkowski’s efforts.
And what he lacks in fiery personality is more than made up by the rest of the defensive staff.
“He’s more of the mad scientist,” Joseph said. “But we have Bo, Coach Choate and Blake who are highly intense guys. And then you have me, who can fit in where needed to help out either side. It’s been a good blend for us, and we do a good job of playing off each other on our staff. And I think the kids feel that.”
Although Kwiatkowski isn’t a yeller, Joseph calls him “sneakily intense.” Edge rusher Barryn Sorrell said that when he critiques players, it’s professional.
“It’s definitely different,” Sorrell said. “It’s a good thing when you’ve got a coach that can say what’s needed and everybody can understand it and actually get the message.”
Joseph called Kwiatkowski “a true team player with a very low ego.”
ADVERTISEMENT
“When I was younger, I thought I had to yell a lot,” Kwiatkowski said. “But at the end of the day, that’s not who I am.”
The challenge his former team brings is a significant one. Washington has a Heisman Trophy finalist at quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.), an offensive line that won the Joe Moore Award as the best unit in the country and an elite receiving corps. The 343 passing yards per game the Huskies average lead the FBS.
As Kwiatkowski and his staff put their finishing touches on the plan to slow the Huskies down, it will be done with the same measured, detail-oriented approach that has gotten the Longhorns’ defense this far.
“It just goes to show, if you stick to the process and you get with a bunch of good coaches and dudes and we’re all trying to do the same thing, and get the players to believe and trust us, trust each other, they start having success,” Kwiatkowski said. “That creates confidence, and you get that synergy that we’ve gotten this year.”
(Photo: John Rivera / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
