I think Texas, like Florida, OU, Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and so many other 'State' schools, has their football program set up under different employment stipulations, "self-funded thru private grants" so State employment limitations (salaries as well as length) can be bypassed.
Mack Brown spent 2008 talking about the naming of Will Muschamp as next-HC because, after Will's first season (2007), he was getting called for other HC positions. This would have put Texas with new DCs for something like 4 out of the prior 5 seasons, or 3 out of 4. Mack Brown wanted to stop that revolving door.
Mack said all last season that he had no fixed length of his predicted tenure - some have said "2010", some "2012" and most don't bother with any set date. If he's smart, he should exit and leave behind an NC-calibre team, like Darrell Royal handed Fred Akers for his first 1977 season with Earl Campbell. I'll use this farsightedness as another factor in evaluating Mack Brown's tenure.
And for Next-HC candidates, this is a great idea. Instead of hoping for a job "like Texas', just line up for that one. Get to the know the staff, the fans, the donors. THEN if Muschamp really doesn't like the situation, he can bail and take another program over.
I'm surprised this list doesn't denote Muschamp with that new title, and it's another suspicious 'quality factor' about it.