Contract extension likely for Mark Richt, but what about Todd Grantham?
Georgia head coach Mark Richt (L) and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham have proven to be a pretty effective tandem for the Bulldogs this season. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
ATHENS — It’s reasonable to assume — and we have to assume since Athletic Director Greg McGarity is reserving comment — that Georgia will extend the contract of head coach Mark Richt after the season if the Bulldogs get past Kentucky on Saturday to secure a spot in the SEC Championship Game.
Richt has only two years remaining on his agreement following this season and it would only seem logical that UGA would lengthen that by at least three or four years sometime after the season.
But there’s another contract matter with which the 15th-ranked Bulldogs are going to have to deal if the season continues to progress as it has.
The three-year contract that Todd Grantham signed to come to Georgia to coach its defense expires on Jan. 31, 2013. And while that’s still 14 months away, what the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator has done on his side of the ball in Year Two has made him a pretty hot commodity.
So says Grantham’s agent, at least. Michael Harrison, an attorney out of Stevenson Ranch, Calif., said he has already “gotten inquiries” from some NFL teams about the possibility of his client returning to that league as a coordinator. Harrison also said he has “gotten feelers” indirectly from colleges gauging Grantham’s interest in becoming a head coach.
Grantham came to UGA from the Dallas Cowboys, where he coached linebackers, and he was a defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns before that. It’s Grantham’s stated desire to one day become a head coach — the buyout in his contract is waived if he does — and several college positions have already opened up. More will surely become available at the conclusion of the regular season, and Harrison expects Grantham to be a part of those conversations.
“Todd wants to be at Georgia, though,” Harrison insisted. “But we’d like to get an extension.”
Here’s the rub: McGarity is not likely to be keen on providing multi-year deals for assistant coaches. It’s something he never did in 18 years as Jeremy Foley’s right-hand man at Florida.
Georgia’s multi-year contract for Grantham was executed by former UGA Athletic Director Damon Evans, who previously also had not offered extended deals for assistants. Grantham is the among the top three highest-paid coordinators in college football at $750,000 a year, according to a survey by USA Today, and the only UGA assistant coach with a multi-year deal.
How McGarity might actually feel about the situation we have no way of knowing because he’s not willing to comment on it at this point.
“We don’t talk about anything like that during the season,” McGarity said Monday, referring to both Richt and Grantham. “Our full focus is on our players and our opponent and right now that is Kentucky. We’ll deal with all that after the season.”
Asked whether the decision on Grantham would ultimately be his, McGarity said, “the head coach makes decisions on his staff.” But you can be sure McGarity will have input.
This much is also certain: Georgia’s defense has looked a lot better under Grantham’s guidance. After Georgia’s 45-7 win over No. 20 Auburn this past Saturday, the Bulldogs (8-2, 6-1 SEC) moved up to No. 4 in the nation in total defense. They’re also No. 5 against the run, No. 5 against the pass and they lead the SEC in quarterback sacks and tackles for loss. The TD it allowed in the first quarter against the Tigers was just the ninth in the last eight games against the defense.
In fact, Georgia’s defense has improved significantly in national ranking in every category kept in Year Two of Grantham’s leadership.
2010—-Defensive category—–2011
24————-Total————-4
27————-Rush————-5
72———–Pass Eff. ———–5
34————Passing———-15
40————Scoring———-12
51————-TFLs———–10
52————-Sacks———–25
The improvement over 2009, before Grantham was defensive coordinator, is even more significant.
Of course, Grantham does not come without faults. He was roundly criticized for making choke signs at a Florida kicker as he prepared to make the game-winning kick against Georgia in overtime in 2010. And Grantham ended up in a shouting match with Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin at the end of the Vanderbilt game last month. Both incidents resulted in internal reprimands from UGA and certainly could be a factor in any job considerations going forward.
Harrison said he does not believe it will be an issue. “A lot of people want a coach with Todd’s fire and passion for the game,” he said.
Certainly it would be in Richt’s best interest to keep Grantham. Richt has spoken glowingly recently of his defense and its coordinator.
“It’s a lot more fun to coach when you’ve got a good defense and the guys are playing the way our guys are playing,” Richt said Saturday. “It makes up for a lot of deficiencies. It just kind of helps you iron some things out sometimes. . . . Todd studies defenses and offenses as well as anybody I’ve been around. He will have a plan and he will understand what needs to be done. But then he’ll try to make it as simple as possible for our guys. He understands tendencies, he understands formations and groups and when different guys are in the game. He knows the percentages and he’s got fire in his belly. He’s really doing a great job.”
So I put the question to you. Should the Bulldogs move to lock up Grantham as soon as they can for as long as they can? Or should Georgia remain guarded in their approach to long-term contracts?
– Chip Towers
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882 comments Add your comment
DawginLex
November 15th, 2011
2:53 pm
This blog is about getting you off of it Thomas Brown
You have basjed everyone from richt right on down the team yet you still pretend to be a dawg.
You are not
You are a liar.
And a coward
I have memories too of posts done by you where you praised Richt years ago.
Now you want him fired
I never said I wanted him fired you idiot
I said if he lost to Sc, the table was set.
I was right but you will never admit it.
Know why?
Because you are a liar and a fraud.
Richt turned things around and I have praised him for it while still being critical of some things.
You just spew garbage.
You are a liar
And a fraud
AltamahaDawg
November 15th, 2011
3:19 pm
Would it make everybodies life easier if I declare Mark Richt accountable for none of the 11 teams that his team beat being ranked by year end? Done! See how easy that was.
GulfShoresDawg
November 15th, 2011
4:15 pm
Lighten up dodo heads…Dawgs are on a roll, be thankful, be happy, be young at heart…sticks and stones baby…we are in the Dome (unless we implode like the housing market)…
wildbill
November 15th, 2011
4:59 pm
Hire Grantham, fire Richt!
Sambo 4 Rambo
November 15th, 2011
5:40 pm
All this talk about ten, fla, auburn and the rest of the teams weve beat this year are terrible as well. We get it, they arent as good as theyve been in the past but you can only play the games on your schedule and those main three are on our schedule every year. In the SEC anyone can win, any week! If we were to play sc on saturday (with garcia and latt) no one can say that it would probably be a different game than the second week of the season. Coaches have done a great job with a bunch of young dawgs. Love the fire in CTG and feel were heading in the right direction with the right coaches! Both get 4 year extensions with incentives. Get er done before CTG goes to ole miss!
Sambo 4 Rambo
November 15th, 2011
5:41 pm
wouldnt*
Georgia_Jim
November 15th, 2011
8:31 pm
I would rather renew Gratham’s contract with a big fat bonus that extending Richt contract. CMR would be nothing this year if it was not for Gratham defense. They remind me of the “Junkyard Dogs”.
krazydawg
November 15th, 2011
10:37 pm
If the dawgs do sneek in and win the sec,i love to hear what espn has to say.Persnally i hope we play Bama.We play Bama hard everytime.I wonder this new kid we just recruited will be the next tebow like theyare saying.And if he is why did Florida not recruit him.Personally i do not think any body could be tebow or a herschel walker.Go Dawgs!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ray
November 15th, 2011
11:22 pm
Well I guess I’ll throw my 2 cents in or at least try lol.
Let me say I love UGA football first, but this season as much as I hate to say it we benefited from having a very easy schedule.
Yes I do agree these things are made far in advance, but still it doesn’t matter a easy schedule is still easy.
UGA has beaten Auburn and FL those two schools plus South Carolina were the only teams worth a damn on our schedule plus Boise.
Out of the three We played SC good, but their not better than many of the West teams like Ark, LSU, and Bama.
Auburn has an identity crisis they remind me of the bulldogs after we lost Stafford and as such they just lost Cam Netwon so it’s the same thing basically. So it’s like one week okay we’ll beat your butts the next week their lost like lambs.
Florida as much as I hate them with a passion is not the same florida at all not even close.
Honestly if you count wins of Tennessee and Florida as Quality wins you’re in for a world of hurt these two teams this year are like the worse two teams fielded in over 20 years. I’m sorry they are great wins cause I don’t like either one, but still get real.
What’s worse with some of these games glancing over certain teams schedule we struggled to beat Florida and somewhat Tennessee where as the top 3 teams didn’t have a bit of problem that’s Ark, LSU, and Bama.
We will see in a few weeks what happens in ATL, but either one of two things will happen
1. We beat LSU by an upset because they looked way past us
2. We get beat down like no tomorrow and the expose every weakness we have.
I’m almost expecting the second to happen they’ve improved but to the point they match LSU even Bama nope not by a long shot.
main time
November 16th, 2011
2:36 am
pay grantham whatever his agent wants—he’s worth at least 1.5 million plus a boatload of perqs and incentives. If not, grantham will be looking around for more money somewhere else.
Georgia's Todd Grantham shouldn't be focused on contract | Jeff Schultz
November 16th, 2011
10:29 am
[...] Michael Harrison has been rebuffed by athletic director Greg McGarity, who says he won’t address coaches’ contracts until after the season. And sorry, but Mark Richt’s contract is a slightly higher [...]
Jborodawg
November 16th, 2011
5:52 pm
To those saying that the contracts and extensions don’t matter to recruits.
Here’s a quote from Jordan Jenkins’ dad to the AJC:
“…The opportunity to compete for early playing time is important to Jenkins, as is coaching stability. The elite recruit and his family like Richt, but heard so much speculation about his coaching future that they briefly considered canceling the official visit. UGA’s eight-game winning streak, along with a heart-felt conversation with Richt over the weekend, helped calm the concerns.
“We had a long talk with Coach Richt, and it was good,” Jenkins said. “We’ve talked with him before, and we know he’s a good man. Another thing that was holding us up with UGA is that we wanted to see how the season went because we knew there was speculation that if things didn’t go right that Coach Richt might not be there at the end. We feel confident now, based on how their season has gone, that Coach Richt is going to be back. That’s a thought on the minds of a lot of recruits when you start talking about Georgia. Is Coach Richt going to be there so you can play for him? We feel like he will be.”
Jborodawg
November 16th, 2011
6:00 pm
For those of you who don’t know about Jenkins, he’s a 5 star recruit who had Bama and Flawduh ahead of UGA….before this past weekend. He was at the Awbun game and he and his dad seemed to have been impressed…and possibly moved the Bulldogs up a notch on his list. Haters, notice how they say coach Richt is a “good man”? Some of you don’t think that character counts, just wins and loses. By some of your logic, like Thomas Brown, aka several monikers lately, every school in the country (save LSU, Bama) should fire their coaches.
Old Dog
November 16th, 2011
7:26 pm
And it seems like some people don’t care if we win games, as long as our coach is a “good man”.
Old Dog
November 16th, 2011
7:27 pm
I think we could probably find plenty of “good men” who would coach and not win championships for less than $3 million per year.
liberianboy
November 16th, 2011
10:19 pm
we havent beaten any of the SEC elites yet and he’s beaten GT once and hardly because of the defense. Lets see what he does against GT, LSU, and in the bowl game in the SECCG. If they play well then most definitely.
GAFansRDelusional
November 17th, 2011
5:58 am
You guys are kidding right? You actually think you have a shot at beating LSU? Dec 3rd is going to be a cold hard dose of reality for you bone heads. You’ve won 8 straight but have yet to beat or even play anyone of any significance. And BSU’s loss last week makes you guys look even worse than the rest of the nation already knows you are. I would love to see a real measure of how “good” Georgia actually is by taking on the likes of Bama and Arkansas. But I guess it will only be LSU who is gonna put the little doggies in their place, the pound. Keep on yapping!
liberianboy
November 17th, 2011
11:20 am
THE East is down but its still THE SEC East. Which other conference has a better division than the East. I wouldnt extend until after the GT, SECCG, and bowl game
liberianboy
November 17th, 2011
11:24 am
Who has Oregon beat? Who has Oklahoma St beat? Who has Alabama beat? You can play that “you havent beaten anyone” card for most teams. Boise lost because they can only beat good teams with a month or more to prep. they cant do it during the season. You mean the same LSU that was up 14-7 against western kentucky in the first half?? And we have outrecruited LSU the past 4 years and have JUST as much talent. our problem was coaching which is now fixed
Best Dawg
November 17th, 2011
12:18 pm
McGarity better move now on Grantham.
Heard something on ESPN about Grantham going to NFL.
Cujo Bendi
November 17th, 2011
12:22 pm
GREAT! 5 or so more years of MEDIOCRE UGA football! So many of you guys are such panty-waistes!
Gator man
November 17th, 2011
12:41 pm
Mark Richt gets a extension have beating 6 straight teams with 500 or bleow, everyone knows Georgia is going to get beat by at least 20 against LSU, then they are going to get wiped out in a Bowl game against some team with a wining record.
They have yet to beat a team with a wining record but they are pumping there chest out like they have won nat, Florida coach has 1 more year to put up numbers like this year and he and Wiss are out, thats the difference between the programs, Mark R. would if been out years ago in Fl, Al,LSU, all three schools have won a title in the last 15 years.
T.O
November 17th, 2011
1:30 pm
We’ve played 2 tough teams this year and lost both games. In the other 8 games we’ve been favored in each of them and pulled out wins even though we could have lost to Vandy, Tennessee and Florida. I think we played great against Auburn but before we start talking about giving Richt an extension lets see how we compare to LSU. Aside from the Tech win 2 years ago we don’t have any big wins over the past 3 years. We consistently lose to the top tier teams and beat the average teams. We always seem to choke in the big games unlike Saban and Les Miles teams.
TBrown
November 17th, 2011
5:27 pm
Go Dawgs! Sic ‘em!
Jborodawg
November 17th, 2011
5:40 pm
Gator man…wining record? Leave Chateau Elan out this!
Add an “h” and it describes certain gator bloggers.
The Legend
November 18th, 2011
12:02 pm
We have a young team, that is making tremendous progress. Lock up the coaches that are leading them. We are going to have to lay out some major $s to fend of raids from other teams. But, I’d like to see those contract extensions be incentive based as muh as possible.
GT Fan
November 18th, 2011
12:41 pm
Can’t figure out how to navigate this blog …
jokerdad
November 19th, 2011
9:14 pm
When you think of grantham the phrase Dawg Ugly comes to mind. O
jokerdad
November 19th, 2011
9:14 pm
Enter your comments here
jaxson
November 20th, 2011
8:31 pm
No extensions for either…wait till the end of next season, just to make sure we don’t go backwards again…
carolyn
November 21st, 2011
7:49 am
Grantham has put the “fire” back into the Georgia defensive players, long while missing from the team. KEEP HIM! He has kept our season alive and gotten us where we are!!
Horst Feistel
November 21st, 2011
11:16 am
Eating without conversation is only stoking.