UGA hires Grantham for $750,000 per year
(Updated 7 p.m.)
Athens – He last coached on the college level in 1998. He’ll make more money than Georgia has ever paid an assistant coach. He’ll change the Bulldogs’ defensive alignment to a 3-4.
He is Todd Grantham, and he is the answer to the question that dogged Georgia fans for 43 days: Who would coach Mark Richt hire as defensive coordinator?
“We have our man,” Richt said Friday as he named Grantham, the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive line coach, to fill the job that had been open since the Dec. 2 firing of Willie Martinez.
Grantham was known to have been on Richt’s radar for weeks, but at least three other candidates declined the job before it was offered to him. On Thursday night, Grantham accepted the same deal that Alabama defensive coordinator and former Georgia player Kirby Smart rejected three days earlier: a three-year, $750,000-per-year contract.
That salary will make Grantham the third highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football, behind only USC’s Monte Kiffin ($1.2 million plus a $300,000 bonus last season at Tennessee) and Texas’ Will Muschamp ($900,000). Georgia’s highest-paid assistants in 2009, Martinez and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, made $325,000 each, plus bonuses.
Grantham, 43, was an assistant coach at Virginia Tech and Michigan State in the 1990s but has spent the past 11 seasons in the NFL, including the past two with Dallas. His only previous experience as a coordinator was with the Cleveland Browns from 2005-07.
Grantham will begin work at Georgia when Dallas’ season ends. The Cowboys play Sunday at Minnesota in an NFL playoff game.
By phone from Dallas late Friday afternoon, Grantham took a break from preparing for the Vikings to discuss his new job and new team.
He said Georgia will switch from its traditional 4-3 base defense to the 3-4, meaning three linemen and four linebackers rather than vice versa.
“We’re going to an aggressive style 3-4,” he said.
He said two outside linebackers “are going to be coming … are going to be developed as pass rushers.” Two inside linebackers, he said, are “going to be downhill guys to the ball.”
Although the 3-4 will become the base defense, Grantham said the Dogs will use “multiple” defenses “to have the ability to match [the offense's] personnel.”
The end result, he said, will be “an aggressive, physical, attacking-style defense.”
Grantham, who has coached the defensive line for most of his career, said he’ll work instead with the linebackers at Georgia. He said that’s a good role for a coordinator because the linebackers coach spends time on the practice field with both the line and the secondary, depending on the drill.
The only holdover on Georgia’s defensive coaching staff is line coach Rodney Garner. Grantham said they have not met, but “I have heard good things about him, and I expect to be meeting him shortly.”
Two openings remain on the defensive staff — Richt fired three coaches last month — but Grantham said no decisions have been made on who will be hired for those spots.
“Coach Richt and I will be working this weekend and next week to try to iron some of those things out,” he said.
Grantham’s hire capped an arduous process in which Richt was rejected by three highly respected defensive coordinators: Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster, LSU’s John Chavis and Smart. Richt said Grantham, whom he did not know when the search began, was recommended highly by many other coaches during the protracted process. One known to have recommended him was Foster.
After Smart turned down the job Monday, Richt turned the focus to Grantham.
“The overriding factor throughout the entire process is I was very prayerful that in the end we got the right man for the job. And that’s exactly what happened,” Richt said. “It was not something I was trying to do at breakneck speed.
“Sometimes it’s easy to just get a person who is willing to come at the drop of a hat, but when you’re looking at the quality we were looking for, such as Todd, it doesn’t always happen overnight. I’m just thankful we stayed the course and ended up where we ended up.
“I really feel like we hit the jackpot,” he added.
Richt’s six-week search for a defensive coordinator generated extraordinary interest among Georgia fans who have been concerned about the play of the Bulldogs’ defense the past two years. The Bulldogs allowed 34 or more points in 10 of 26 games over those seasons — a culture shock for a program once known for stout defense.
“I think … we can get the defense back to the way it has been in the past,” Grantham said.
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793 comments Add your comment
JB
January 15th, 2010
11:16 am
I think spin master is 1.3 million. His totally clueless posts prove it.
HBTD!!!
mark
January 15th, 2010
11:18 am
People can say this is our 4th choice all they want but look at those 3 that we went after. All are top DC’s at top schools so it would have been a long shot getting them to come to Athens anyway. Could Richt have skipped them because he was worried they might turn us down. Absolutely but he still went after them. I have no problem with that approach. Now we have a DC that has coached under Saban and Beamer and reportedly is spoken of very highly in NFL circles. I think this is a good hire and I love his quote in the announcement.
coach smith
January 15th, 2010
11:18 am
Word is that Travis Jones will be coming with him! That would be a huge get as far as recruiting and defensive knowledge
Otis
January 15th, 2010
11:18 am
Only time will tell but it looks like Tech got the better coach.
Roddy
January 15th, 2010
11:18 am
Fantastic hire. Welcome to the Dawg nation. See you in Atlanta, Kirby.
jawga boy
January 15th, 2010
11:18 am
Great Hire. i can hear all the new defensive recruits axing ” Corch… I want to go to the NFL….will you hep me”? And, he will. To the recruits..”Get in line, and the line will be a long one”. I’m going to UGA Bay Beee.
coach smith
January 15th, 2010
11:19 am
The last time Groh was a coordinator in college it was on offense
You are going to have a bunch of OLD white men at Tech trying to recruit players….good luck
Jimmy Hoffa
January 15th, 2010
11:19 am
I knew they’d dig up a good coordinator sooner or later
Golden Tornado
January 15th, 2010
11:19 am
Prediction: UGA 8-5 again in 2010. Tech, which is THE university of Georgia, will administer one of the five whuppin’s.
JB
January 15th, 2010
11:21 am
Like they did this year or 1 of the last 9? Run along now.
HBTD!!!
coach WM
January 15th, 2010
11:22 am
Hey … I woulda done a better job for that kinda money. Twice
as good.
Boss B.
January 15th, 2010
11:22 am
Will- recruiting is Gardner’s job. Richt has 90 wins including 2 conference titles in 3 tries, 2-1 in BCS bowls in 9 years. He also doesn’t coach in the Pac-1 or the Big 10 (minus
or the Big 12 (minus 9)They just made Grantham the 3rd highest paid coordinator. He’s coached under Saban and Beamer and has been in the NFL for 10 years. All he has to do is put our D in the top 30 teams and we will be VASTLY improved! I think he’ll be fine.
gdawginkalamazoo
January 15th, 2010
11:23 am
gatorman, everybody for the past 20 years for UGA has a losing record against you guys. Urban probably won’t be back due to the “family issues” he will have to work on. Evidently it wasn’t all health related.
In all of Willie’s years I never once heard the word “attack” or “agressive” used in describing his defenses. Grantham in his first statement goes after it. Time will tell. We know that “soft cover 2″ won’t be used any longer.
coach smith
January 15th, 2010
11:23 am
Hoe about the GRANTHAM ANTHEM ……sic em woof woof woof
Satin Sabin
January 15th, 2010
11:23 am
You folks are so desperate and pitiful,if Mark had hired the devil you would think it was the second coming.Get a life!
WOW
January 15th, 2010
11:23 am
And then there is the issues in Haiti. Put it in perspective folks..wow BUNCHES OF IGNORANT FOLKS I READ
Dawg Bone
January 15th, 2010
11:24 am
Grantham — easily the best of all the candidates UGA looked at. They never really made offers to anyone else—Grantham was the main target all along. He’ll design an attacking D that will shut down offenses at florida and tennessee, which will be way down anyway in 2010 with little talent!!! Dawgs win the SEC east–bet the house.
GaGator
January 15th, 2010
11:24 am
I hope this is true, but no credible news out is reporting the story. No mention on ESPN, Rivals.com CBS sports, Fox sports, New York Times, Dallas news.
The only reference is to several blogs, but no news out lets. I really do hope this sojourn is over.
TXDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:24 am
Waiting on feedback from the Dallas Morning News and the Fort-Worth Star Telegram newspapers……we’ll see how much smoke is being blown up ours.
Personally, I hope the hire is for real. I was one who said we needed and NFL guy or an NCAA guy with NFL experience.
TXDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:27 am
Oh yeah….GaGator…go get a life and take your lame comments to a Gator blog. Who cares about Percy Harvin….you better worry about that mess in Gainesville. You guys aren’t as STRONG as last year.
Coach BoBo
January 15th, 2010
11:29 am
Grantham? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
how2fish
January 15th, 2010
11:29 am
GaGator Harvin broke the record in how many games…are we talking apples to apples here or as most Gator info..have you stacked the deck..again..now run off to the reptile pool..er blog and let us bulldogs bask in a good hire and sharpen our gator skinning knives.
R.I.P.
January 15th, 2010
11:30 am
Sorry, GT, option football just died.
GaGator
January 15th, 2010
11:31 am
Has anyone see where Richt, Evans, or UGA has announced a press conference.
Seems to me, if this true, Richt would have been in front of a camera by now, or at least announced the time.
Tech's Daddy
January 15th, 2010
11:31 am
Golden Turdnado- It must be sad to live such a pathetic existence. THE (lower case u) university of Georgia has a 72% non-Georgia born student body. The (upper case U) University of Georgia has a 53% Georgia born student body. Oh, and we will beat you nerds once again in 2010. I used to really get into the game, when it was an actual rivalry. In a rivalry, both teams have to be competitive.
Coach BoBo
January 15th, 2010
11:32 am
RICHT IS BUSY MAKING A FORD TRUCK COMMERCIAL. HE DOESN’T HAVE TIME FOR A PRESS CONFERENCE
YoungDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:33 am
People complain about the length of this search process but when AL made it to the NC game you knew this would be a long process because they HAD to talk to Kirby. He was the perfect candidate & had UGA ties could you imagine the backlash if he hired a DC without talking to & offering Smart! In the mean time CMR talked to two top flight DC’s in Foster & Chavis whom if he hired either no one was going to say they were bad hires that we shouldn’t have waited on Kirby first before hiring them. He talked to up & comer Vic Koneing who took the IL DC job rather than waiting on the UGA job. He finds Todd Grantham who has a great defensive background, likes his fiery passion & feels like he’s a good fit for UGA. BUT first he HAS to talk to & offer Smart, 1 because he’s the perfect candidate & 2 the Dawg nation wouldn’t be accepting of off the radar guy like Grantham if he didn’t go after Smart first. In the end CMR got his & the right man for the DC job! That’s all that matters! Now Evans needs to step to the plate so we can “Finish the Drill” on this by hiring great assistants to help Grantham! GODAWGS!
Cindy Hendrix
January 15th, 2010
11:34 am
Great hire I always wanted him with his college & pro experience he runs a 3-4 defense like saban saban tried to hire him as his def coach when he was at Miami Dolphins tunred him down!! if Saban wanted him him he;s good now let;s have a press conferece have him sign on the dotted line get moved to Athens & get to work!! watch out for our defense now baby!!!!!!! KS put on your thinking cap when you play us with TG when we play you watch out!! forget about ever getting hired at UGA in any position you burnded all your bridges with us!! can’t wait for the season to start hope our new defense can go kick some butt!!!!!!!! all our rivals watch out for us this fall baby!!!!!!!! lets go kick some butts & show em what we can do DO DAWGS SIC EM WOOF WOOF!!!!!!!! good job CMR!! CINDY
gatorman
January 15th, 2010
11:34 am
TXDawg, No mess in Gainesville except to find out where to play all of the Nations best recruiting class.
Buddy El
January 15th, 2010
11:35 am
Why do you clowns keep bringing up Rodney Garner? CMR just hired(apparently) a DC which is a Defensive Coordinator. A Defensive Coordinator coordinates all defensive activities including defensive line, defensive ends, linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks. For the life of me I can’t see where you see a problem. CTG is replacing CWM not CRG. I beleive CRG got a very nice increase recently so he is doing well and I hope we keep him happy because he is one helluva recruiter.
GaGator
January 15th, 2010
11:35 am
TXDawg
I can feel your pain. 3 for 20 in Jacksonville isn’t much of a life. And if you have noticed the Gators this year may have the best class even in the history of the NCAA. All I can see is 4 more of pain in J’ville.
TNDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:36 am
All you haters need to pipe down. Richt’s record speaks for himself. No one was on Martinez’s case until 2 years ago. People are probably going to have Bobo’s head on a platter next year, when little is said about him now. Grantham is a great hire. NFL experience=recruits attention. Give him a chance. Richt is not an idiot. Compare him to Kiffin, Meyer (can’t decide if I want to retire or not) and even Saban (I will leave for the greener pastures of the NFL, oh wait, this is tough, let me come back to College Football) and his record and loyatly sum it up. GO DAWGS AND WELCOME TO ATHENS COACH GRANTHAM!!
how2fish
January 15th, 2010
11:36 am
GaGator the article said after 5:15 due to the Cowboys scheduele…
TXDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:36 am
Why is this GayGator guy obsessed with our coaching search….you would think he would be on a Gator blog somewhere questioning whether the Athletics department has enough money to put a heart monitor on the sideline for Meyer next season(no pun intended)……geez!
DawgBuzz
January 15th, 2010
11:37 am
CMR made it clear for weeks that he would let everyone know when he had guy. He has already released the following:
‘I’m excited the search is over, we have our man, and look forward to what Todd will bring to our defense, our team, and our University,” said Richt. “I think it is particularly valuable that he has a wealth of experience on the defensive side of the ball at both the NFL and collegiate levels. Now we look forward to moving ahead with the home stretch of recruiting, finishing out the defensive staff, and getting ready for spring practice.”
It is on the Bulldog official website and being reported by wsbtv as well.
PapaDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:38 am
Now that the Dawgs & GT have their coaching problems solved we can now pick on others who have issues, like Tenn. & Fla.
CMR Can't Coach
January 15th, 2010
11:38 am
Grantham will be the next scape goat…or Richt’s replacement
GaGator
January 15th, 2010
11:40 am
ohw2fish
In his first year in the NFL, prior to Harvin, Walker held this record for rookies(although walker was 28-30years old before he got to the NFL). Work on those reading skills.
Alabama Dog
January 15th, 2010
11:42 am
YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!! THIS IS THE BEST WE COULD GET FOR A DC????
UGA Dawg in LA
January 15th, 2010
11:42 am
Grantham is the real deal—a much better hire than the old geezer that tech hired, who will be looking to retire in a year or two—Grantham’s D will bring the heat and shut down these fancy spread offenses in the SEC. DAWGS–back on top!!
gatorman
January 15th, 2010
11:43 am
Why did Romeo Crannel fire him at Cleveland? Was it because he didn’t like attack defenses?
CMR Can't Coach
January 15th, 2010
11:44 am
UGA Dawg in LA – Take is easy on that koolade, son.
UGA DAWG
January 15th, 2010
11:44 am
Bout damn time! I’m ready to see SEC opponents SCARED to play against a tough DAWG Defense. Let’s go Grantham!! You got a lot of work to do in a short time. Go Dawgs!!!
Will
January 15th, 2010
11:45 am
No more sit back on our ass defense will be played anymore at UGA!! This guy will be aggressive and will have an exciting, fast unit. I am actually pleased we have this guy more than Kirby or Chavis.
CMR Can't Coach
January 15th, 2010
11:45 am
Scared????
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Technophobia
January 15th, 2010
11:46 am
At least I can go back to pulling for Favre instead of the Cowboys.
North Ga Dawg
January 15th, 2010
11:48 am
Kirby, keep your butt in redneck ville, we don’t need you. But when your headcoach daddy leaves you high and dry don’t call Georgia!
gatorman
January 15th, 2010
11:51 am
Enter your comments here
KDawg
January 15th, 2010
11:52 am
Guys, it’s already on the official athletic website for UGA (www.georgiadogs.com) I think it’s pretty safe to say, it’s a done deal.
DawgBuzz
January 15th, 2010
11:53 am
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/01/15/update-uga-officially-lands-new-coordinator/