Grantham’s antics were over the line — it’s not even close
Todd Grantham appears to be giving "choke" sign before Florida lines up for field goal attempt.
(Tuesday, 8 p.m.: This blog has been updated throughout, now that Georgia coach Mark Richt has confirmed that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham gave the choke sign and shouted something well south of the King’s English at Florida kicker Chas Henry Saturday. Just added: Grantham quotes)
♦
This isn’t about football. This isn’t about how we’re just too politically correct, or about how some of us just aren’t tough enough, or how we’re all just picking on the poor Georgia Bulldogs because, you know, that’s just what the leftist, evil media does.
This is about right and wrong. A 44-year-old college coaching grabbing his throat multiple times and shouting, “You’re gonna [bleepin'] choke,” at the opponent’s 21-year-old kicker?
Folks, that’s wrong. It’s over the line. It’s not even a close call.
Todd Grantham shouting “Choke” at the opposing player doesn’t make him or his team any tougher or better. It just makes him look classless. The Georgia defensive coordinator owes everybody an apology, from the Bulldogs’ program to Florida kicker Chas Henry, the target of Grantham’s sideline antics in Jacksonville.
Dogs coach Mark Richt confirmed Tuesday what had become obvious Monday, when he was unavailable for comment. Grantham gave the choke sign to Henry multiple times and he was wrong for doing so. The picture above tells part of the story. The two videos below tell more of it. In short, Grantham — who can be a little on the excitable side, which in itself isn’t a bad thing — let his competitive spirit push him over the line of what’s right and wrong. He grabbed his throat four times while the Florida kicker lined up for a 37-yard field goal attempt in overtime.
Henry, a native of Dallas, Ga., acknowledged seeing and hearing Grantham but he made the kick anyway, giving the Gators a 34-31 win.
The above screen grab from the Florida sports cable network “Sun Sports” showed Grantham on the sideline. Below are two videos:
VIDEO No. 1: Here is Henry’s post-game interview with CBS when he references what he saw when he looked to the Georgia sideline during the timeout. Quote: “Some of their coaches on the sideline were giving me a little grief, saying I was gonna choke.”)
♦
VIDEO No. 2: Here’s one view of Grantham going through his motions before the kick, via Sports by Brooks.)
♦
It was at about 6:30 p.m. Monday night when Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun sent a note out on Twitter: “Just checked the CBS broadcast again. Todd Grantham grabs his neck and says ‘You’re gonna bleepin’ choke. You’re gonna choke’ to Henry.”
By then, it was clear that Richt had a mess to clean up, and for once it had nothing to do with his players and the Athens-Clarke County police department
As I wrote earlier, it would be understandable — even expected — that Grantham would think, “Choke!” or “Miss it!” in his head. It wouldn’t even be surprising if a Georgia player yelled, “Choke!” or grabbed his neck. But that’s not something a college coach should be doing, and Richt acknowledged that.
Grantham himself expressed regret about the incident, saying after Tuesday’s practice: “As a competitor, sometimes you get caught up in the heat of the moment. I wish the situation hadn’t happened.”
Earlier in the day, Richt also referenced that “emotions run high,” adding: “People do things they probably wish they didn’t do. I think that was what was being communicated. I don’t think he’s necessarily proud of it. We’re just going to learn from it and move on.”
Not the first thing this year the Dogs are trying to learn from.
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1,682 comments Add your comment
JoeFan
November 3rd, 2010
8:03 am
CMR has a mess to clean up in Athens and it starts with his DC. If he wants to remain as head coach then he needs to man up and make the tough decisions whether they impact the players or coaches.Enough is enough.
jtdawg
November 3rd, 2010
8:11 am
What a joke Jeff. Well, you got your name recognized by national media. I guess you met your goal…..
I lost all respect for you on this one. Go cry some more, and start a support group for the poor widdle kicker someone rooted against. Wah!!!!
What a hypocritical piece of trash…..
redhairpimplefacetechnerd
November 3rd, 2010
8:11 am
Are you to lazy to write another column?Give it a rest.
jtdawg
November 3rd, 2010
8:20 am
Look, it may have not been the smartest thing in the world for the coach to do in this politically correct hypocracy we all live in these days, but this is such overblown nonsense I have a hard time fathoming all of the media types actually making money talking about this crap for 3 days.
I want to know why in the hell this much media outrage wasn’t given to the Chris Rainey story??? All was said about that was “this was expected, Urban Meyer was wrong….” Where was all the hand -wringing and foot stomping that’s going on over this asinine incident over that????
jtdawg
November 3rd, 2010
8:23 am
Better yet, lets all join the bandwagon ……
UNBELIEVEABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111
Jeff, when is Richt and Gratham going to be fired!!!!! McGarity should can them on the spot for allowing such disgrace!!!!!!!! I heard a lawsuit is being drawn up by the kids lawyers and the University of Florida!!!!!!!!
Florida State Patrol is stopping all cars coming south and turning them back!!!!!!! I demand a boycott of every NCAA Football fan from all games in stadium and on TV until they step in and Investigate!!!!!
Why hasn’t the University been give the Death Penalty!!!!!!!1 I heard they are being kicked out of the SEC, and rightfully so, for hurting the sensitive feelings of opposing players!!!!!!!
jtdawg
November 3rd, 2010
8:25 am
See, I could do Jeff’s job too… where’s my paycheck???
Oh that’s right. I actually have to earn mine.
Jiffy Lube Manager
November 3rd, 2010
8:35 am
jtdawg, get off the work computer and get your tail back in bay number 3, we have 4 oil changes and a flat tire that are waiting on you.
Former GA Player
November 3rd, 2010
8:37 am
This is the dumbest article you have ever written, Schultz. Who cares if he gave him the choke sign, and dropped a few F bombs. This is major college football, not sewing class. I cannot tell you how many times I saw GA players end up on FL’s sideline after a play, and FL coaches yelling at them. I can assure you those were not words of encouragement. It happens ALL the time. You’ve obviously never played a down of football in your life.
jtdawg
November 3rd, 2010
8:38 am
Jiffy Lube Manager
- you got it wrong. That’s 4 Tickets, 4 Hot Dogs and 4 Cokes…. and still no body will attend your sorry games…. get a life and a real job
Tech Sucks
November 3rd, 2010
8:39 am
That’s embarrassing to our school. Pathetic.
UGA Swallows
November 3rd, 2010
8:47 am
While embarrassing themselves every week…
On the field
Off the field
+now on the sidelines
silverridge
November 3rd, 2010
8:51 am
This was directed at the same kid that was giving the gator chomp to the Georgia bench before the game even started. Tell both sides of the story.
jbeggs
November 3rd, 2010
8:56 am
It’s overwhelmingly obvious you have never put on a jock to play any sport – ever!! This is NOTHING!
Choking Hazard
November 3rd, 2010
8:56 am
UGA needs new leadership from top to bottom.
NC Dawg
November 3rd, 2010
9:04 am
I would rather see this happen occasionally, than the stoic Marc Richt never showing ANY emotion. I am so tired of the emotionless coaching staff that we need somebody with some fire, those people will occasionally cross the line.
Buckeye
November 3rd, 2010
9:11 am
USA TODAY today…..Bowl Predictions
UGA vs. Central Florida in the Liberty Bowl HA!
Sure to capture huge ratings and recruits’ attention!
Bruce, msaybe you need additional reservations!
JimDawg
November 3rd, 2010
9:15 am
This is a non-issue. We should be so lucky if the rest of the coaching staff acted as though anything mattered. Schultz should be suspended for being so predictable.
GatorDad
November 3rd, 2010
9:16 am
Stay classy, Georgia, stay classy…
dawgfan
November 3rd, 2010
9:20 am
LMFAO @ Jeff Schultz. Good grief what a putz. Everyone on earth is ready to move on from this and he’s still blabbering about it. Chas Henry looks like a big boy Schultzie. I seriously doubt that he needs you or anyone else to stick up for him. I think he’ll be okay and won’t suffer too much lasting trauma from this. Its all going to be okay Schultzie.
Jim Nasium
November 3rd, 2010
9:28 am
Another example of head coach laughing off the example set by his staff. A leader encourages poor behavior through his own behavior – e.g. telling team to get a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty a couple years ago OR not publicly admonishing the immature actions of his staff. Previous A.D. set the tone and it continues. Richt needs to learn to implement ‘tough love’ on staff and players. He’s letting the pressure of not winning alter his morals. I think he knows what’s right, he’s just blind right now.
seriously
November 3rd, 2010
9:32 am
Is this a joke we have a coach that gives the choke sign against a coach that lets a guy back on the team after telling a female “Time to die B*&%” . I guess giving a choke sign is way more classless. I don’t see the big deal Grantham was trying to get in the kickers head just like icing him. Maybe Grantham should threaten to kill someone so everybdy will leave him alone. The poor Atlanta media has nothing more to report on kinda sad really.
Jonas Grumby
November 3rd, 2010
9:39 am
Even more disappointed in Richt for not forcing him to apologize and tap dancing around the whole thing. I’ve always been a Richt supporter, but maybe this indicates that Richt really has lost control of the program.
NEW CARS
November 3rd, 2010
9:47 am
I mean really Jeff…First we rail on this coaching staff for not showing fire and now you want to put a fire out. In the heat of the moment, the guy lost it and said something we have all said before. Now compare that to Meyer bringing the kid back on his team, More than that, Meyer threatened a fellow reporter last year when he didn’t like what he was writing about his team.
You can’t have it both ways, Grantham said he was sorry and I’m sure the player understood it was a heat of the moment deal, just as the whole team running on the field 3 years ago. It wasn’t like a coach taking timeouts at the end of the game to run the score up and risk an injury like Meyer did two years ago.
We’ve been saying for 5 years now, since Van Gorder left, that we needed more fire on the sidelines. Well we have it now and a funny thing about fire, you never what direction it will go in.
Don’t know if you ever played any sports Jeff, but when the stakes are high emotions will flare up. I don’t care who you are, even the great John Wooden said things on the sideline that he would have liked to taken back.
I imagine that Meyer, Saban and Paul Johnson are laughing about the self-loathing from Georgia fans over an article like this. Did you write it or did Paul Finebaum ghost write it.
ch
November 3rd, 2010
9:49 am
please…schultz is just trying to stir the pot again.
Alabama Dog
November 3rd, 2010
9:53 am
Hey, Dawg fans! Grantham was caught up in the emtion of the moment! I wish ALL their coaches would show that kind of emotion!
Dan
November 3rd, 2010
9:59 am
Who cares….At least he is paying attention.
Referee
November 3rd, 2010
10:00 am
Get real. I have had many a coach give me that sign in the heat of a game when they did not agree with my call. Once again, you try to make a mountain out of a molehill. I am sure there was no trash talk in the game. Evertbody was a perfect gentleman. It’s FOOTBALL. People get excited and do all sort of dumb things. There was not physical threat or contact, so get a life. You so-called sport writers need to be held to the same level of the coaches you run in the dirt. Maybe the AJC needs to move in a different direction and get better sports writters. I see you grade the coaches every week, I would give you an F for content and an F for general principle!!
JaxDawg
November 3rd, 2010
10:02 am
USC GAMEC0CK – First Grantham is a great DC, our defense is improving every game and despite 4 turn overs to Florida our defense was pretty strong. this is not my opinion it is what I hear from Florida fans too. and really all dawg fans are very happy with Grantham. Do you think south carolina can beat Georgia if they play next week, not a chance! and about the choke sign its not a big deal–move on. and Auburn should be worry about playing Georgia, thats why CBS chose it over Florida-southcarolina
mcdaviddawg
November 3rd, 2010
10:03 am
Gee, I wish we were classy like FLorida playing Rainey. At least someone on the coaching staff was in to the game. This wouldn’t be something Richt would do because he’s barely into the game. Quit this discussion and get back to the task at hand. Fire Richt,
Get Over It!
November 3rd, 2010
10:05 am
Jeff, this “line” of yours, where did you draw it and when? Does the crowd making noise for the defense on a 3rd down conversion cross your line? Does the coach calling a time out before a field goal attempt to “ice” the kicker cross your line? Does baseball chatter to the batter cross your line? All of these aim to put pressure on players and by definition cross your line.
Your PC is showing.
JaxDawg
November 3rd, 2010
10:05 am
NEW CARS – you are right on, cant say it better my self
takedowndawg
November 3rd, 2010
10:21 am
“Big Surprise” with you, Jeff, getting all torqued up with this item of Grantham’s. We lost the game, Jeff. Isn’t that enough for you and Bradley? I don’t recall you becoming “so” incensed with the Florida, Brandon Spikes’s eye gouging incident that he was “ministering” to Ealey! Or, the “severe” punishment the Urban Meyer gave him “1/2 of ONE GAME”. Boy, urban is quite the moralist. Spikes should have been kicked off of the team. No more questions, after the film was reviewed. Jeff, get “torqued” about something that matters for a change! One thing to your credit. You are consistent. Consistent in, “if an incident can be viewed as negative for the University of Georgia,” then Jeff Schultz is the man for that JOB!
Obama does not set the rules here, gang
November 3rd, 2010
10:23 am
This is more PC crap that comes from the AJC’s take on the world. The guy was in the heat of the moment and if someone tried to be the PC police on every football squad in the USA, they would see the emotions running high. Geeeeeeeeeeez, this is so pathetic to make a deal out of this.
Tthe liberals and Barry Sotero LOST on Tuesday and we are taking our country back is THE message of today ……….. not “did TG do the wrong thing?” Dumb that is.
GO Dogs.
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:34 am
Does Florida play players who want to kill innocent women?
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:35 am
Are jorts and mullets so popular at UF?
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:36 am
Doesn’t Bozo get fired today? (and Richt at the end of the season)
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:37 am
30-24
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:37 am
73-66 Double Humiliation
18-3 "Time to loose bi#@"
November 3rd, 2010
10:38 am
After Rainey saw this, he quickly text CMR. “Time to loose b#$CH”
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:39 am
Are yellow jackets attracted to vinegar and water and the Trek fans are douches? Is this a coincidence?
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:40 am
Do UF coeds have to install deadbolts to protect themselves from Urban’s violent players?
Why
November 3rd, 2010
10:41 am
Did Tech waste money on a Nesbitt for Heisman campaign, when their athletic department is in the Red?
GB82
November 3rd, 2010
10:47 am
Are UGA fans that incapable of taking ownership of anything? The level of hypocrisy is at an all time high. Gator fans, players, and coaches are all evil but this guy … oh he’s just a competitor! This is no big deal! When one of your own is pointed out for doing something stupid and getting caught, you point your finger to people on the other side of the field? “Well he did it first … well Rainey did that…blah blah blah” All of it reeks of BS. Bottom line, if any Gator coach had done it, you’d be mad. Don’t try to spin that after the fact. It’s the TRUTH.
PonGT
November 3rd, 2010
11:15 am
Dear Jeff, there is an old adage that says “Only a fool deem it necessary to state the obvious”. Congratulations, you now qualify to work in the basement with Cynthia Tucker.
RDR
November 3rd, 2010
11:21 am
It was a mistake; an error in judgement; unprofessional, etc. I’m sure Todd has apologized to the kid and Urban Meyer. It’s now way past time to move on!
tiny tim
November 3rd, 2010
11:24 am
Looks like some has never done anything stupid in their professional carrier.
Oh yea, its you Shultz. Stupid article
Over Reaction
November 3rd, 2010
11:26 am
C’mon… He gave a choke sign. SO WHAT! Chris Henry himself termed it “a little grief”. Apparently all of those who are “outraged” by this have never been on a football sideline before. It’s laughable how outraged people get over NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.
George Burnett
November 3rd, 2010
11:44 am
BS Schultz! You are crossing the line in your attempt to sensationalize the gesture into news. You don’t make the news guy, you just report it. This was a gesture performed in the height of a very emotional game, just a gesture, no harm/no foul, move on!
Don’t look now, but your anti UGA sentiment is showing.
Howie87
November 3rd, 2010
12:46 pm
Whoopi Freaking doo. Its Football Its an emotional Game. Both UGA and Florida throw Class out the window when they meet each year which is why its one of the most Exciting Rival football Games of the year. That I pesonally look foreward to watching. Remember FOOTBALL is an Emotional Game. And The coach ( if the the gesture is even towards the Kicker) got caught up in emotion.. So just get over it You won FL now move on!
$750,000!
November 3rd, 2010
1:01 pm
Grantham makes $750,000 and his defense has been a total bust. That’s the bigger story–not his low class choking thing after their D gave up 31 points at the time.