God help me, I know better than to accept this as gospel, but Tom Dienhart is reporting that Todd Grantham is signed, sealed and delivered as Georgia’s new defensive coordinator.
Tim Tucker notes that as of early this morning, there’s been no press conference scheduled. And nobody’s told Marc Weiszer anything, either. So perhaps we should hold off on uncorking the champagne just yet.
I guess I’ll believe it when I hear Mark Bradley ask Grantham at the presser how it feels to be Georgia’s fifth choice.
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UPDATE: It’s official.
“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.”
Of course, that’s not the biggest story.
Get The Picture 
If it’s true, I’m extremely happy with that choice. It wasn’t the sexy hire, but I like what David Hale had to say about it.. he’s like Kirby Smart with more experience.
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“he’s like Kirby Smart with more experience.”
But without the success.
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Yeah, Kirby Smart has tons of success… what ? 2 years and those are questionable considering who he works for…. CTG is far more experienced……
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Are you saying his defensive schemes won’t work at Georgia? Are you saying that because the teams he worked for didn’t have the talent? At Georgia, we’ve got the defensive talent, our offensive has no glaring issues.. Grantham has run some very solid defenses. I think he’s a much better choice than Smart.
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“..he’s like Kirby Smart with more experience”
Please! He’s a loser who got fired from Cleveland last year for having the worst defense in the NFL.
And, he’s like Kirby Smart only in that he’s also an assistant coach! Tim DeRuyter should have been our guy from the start. Just watch… he’ll turn out to be another Urban Meyer (talent-wise).
It looks like we’re in for at least 3 more years of inconsistent play on the defensive side of the ball.
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He got fired because he called a closed door meeting with the players when he thought Romeo Crennel was being fired. In 2005, he had pass, rush, and total defense all ranked in the Top 10 in the NFL.
And it’s not like anyone has been successful at much of anything in Cleveland lately. Butch Davis was abysmal and he’s a pretty solid college coach.
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The point is, in 2007 he had the talent to have a good Defense (regardless of what the Offense and Special Teams did). IF he were the coach that some fans on the boards say he is, he wouldn’t have been 25th against the pass, 27th against the run, and 30th in total-yards-against among 32 NFL teams.
That’s all I’m saying.
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Correct me if I wrong(I do not closely follow the Browns) I don’t remember the Browns offense scorching the turf in the past few years causing the defense to stay on the field longer which would effect their defensive statistics if so. Any Georgia fan should be sympathetic towards that.
I have always thought that from the beginning of this long process, the unspoken stated objective was to hire a candidate who could do a better job than Willie Martinez. Grantham fits the profile. Let’s get this over with. Close the book so to speak.
Besides if he was such a bad coach he wouldn’t be getting rehired numerous times. The NFL doesn’t rehire many losers(well, the Raiders do but they don’t count).
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The NFL is all about the players. The SEC is the closest thing in CFB to the NFL and Georgia will always have better players than 7 or 8 teams on our schedule every year.
The most immediate areas where we need improvement is in creating a meritocracy for play (Willie was loathe to do this) and on changing defenses during the game based on the opponent (see Crompton boot leg).
Anyone who has made a career of coaching at the most demanding places (NFL and under Nick Saban) will better handle these relatively minor tasks than CWM.
Georgia’s D (while bad) was not that far off being good.
It’s not like he’s taking over for the 85lb. Blackwell Bears.
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There are plenty of great coaches that have lost their jobs prior to becoming established. BVG was great for the dawgs, but do you hear his name getting accolades in the NFL, no. Had he not been successful in college you problably would balk at him being the hire as well….
We’ll be fine, no, we’ll be a very good defensive team.
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The Falcons defensive players on the roster are not exactly the top notch and that is being polite about it. The job that Van Gorder has been able to do considering that has been impressive and people have given him credit for it.
He is considered underpaid as an NFL DC of his current caliber and is likely to get a significant raise and in truth, as the Senator pointed out, far beyond the University of Georgia’s spending capabilities.
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Yeah, it was the defensive coordinator that was holding Cleveland back. They were sooo good the past two years without him.
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Yep. Todd Grantham as DC was the least of the Cleveland Browns’ problems. His DL at Dallas this year has been incredible so far.
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Let’s see if you’ve heard of any of these coaches that have been fired the Cleveland Browns franchise over the last 20 years.
(1) Bill Belichick
(2) Nick Saban
(3) Butch Davis
Yeah, those guys are clearly all bums. Particularly at the college game for the latter two. I mean, they couldn’t coach their way out of a wet paper bag. Clearly the level of success one attains while with the Cleveland Browns is completely indicative of one’s ability as a coach.
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i’ll be honest–i didn’t know who grantham was before people starting chatting up his name in connection with the job. that won’t diminish my satisfaction with getting this done, though, b/c i’m just another inexpert fan of college football whose knowledge of it all is pretty shallow.
in spite of the misses, i feel good about this dc hiring process b/c it has been the exact opposite of the process that gave the job to wm. part of the reason i was skeptical of willie from the beginning is that his hiring was simply lazy on cmr’s part, and i think that the program has paid a pretty high price in squandered talent for that laziness. this search has been anything but lazy. that makes me optimistic about whoever the new dc will be.
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Regardless of whether or not you think this is a good hire, wouldn’t a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol or Aleve be more appropriate at this juncture. And, if it’s alcohol that you need for this occasion, I believe Scotch would be more appropriate. I just want it to be over. I am also sick of reading the AJC’s and other’s slanted take on this whole process.
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One of Grantham’s best qualities is that most do not know who he is… yet he’s been doing this all his life. Much like Van Gorder in 2001.
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I would agree that. However, this idea that the fans are the one’s that have to approve him which is being pushed by the AJC and people like John Pennington, I believe is overstated.
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What I am saying is I am not sure most of us care if he is a big name or not so long as he is qualified. They have been signing some of the best recruiting classes in the country the past few years, Georgia shouldn’t have to hire Buddy Ryan incarnate to coach them.
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He’s the poor man’s Brian Van Gorder.
For this amount of money, why not just hire Van Gorder?
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For that amount of money, you could and with Blank’s money and his joy of spending in, I doubt he would have a problem replacing him.
The Falcons defensive players they have on the roster is bigger problem than who is coaching them.
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Sorry about the typos
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VanGorder would have cost even more.
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By how much? 1 to 300,000.
It wouldn’t be worth the money.
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“Much like Van Gorder”
but without the success!
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From what I have read about this guy, he seems to understand that pressure is essential and that if you can’t get it with his front four, he’s got to have a back up plan
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@Left to Right-
How is he the “poor man’s Brian Van Gorder”? Please back up your overused cliche.
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He has more experience than Van Gorder had when he was hired by Richt in 2001; And, not that this is a definite predictor of success, but he has worked higher profile jobs than Van Gorder did prior to coaching at Georgia.
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I didn’t mean it as a compliment.
He’s a fiery, big-ego guy who has clashed with other assistant coaches and moved around a lot. The difference is that he hasn’t had Van Gorder’s success. At least Van Gorder’s deficiencies can be balanced against his performance in Athens.
And as for Beamer and Saban vouching for Grantham, head coaches will almost always vouch for an assistant as long as that assistant was a “good soldier.”
Remember, Tubby Smith recommended his top assistant, Ron Jirsa, for the head coaching job at Georgia. Vince Dooley made the mistake of taking Tubby’s endorsement at face value.
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Just hope we didn’t put the jinx on it by talking about.
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it.
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If it is true, let them DAWGS GATA.
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I don’t know much about Grantham. I know he has Saban ties and I have heard that he stays in contact with Saban…specifically going to Bama over the summers and talking shop. I have also heard that Saban tried to hire him as DC for the Fins.
Here are some of my concerns:
1.) Grantham has not coached at the college level in years. Can he recruit a lick?
2.) Granthams specialty is D-line. What would RG’s role be if he is even retained at all? If RG is cut loose then we are losing another great recruiter (Willie seemed to be a good recruiter too).
3.) Is Grantham going to be bringing a bunch of NFL guys that never coached and recruited at the college level and will there be a bunch of turnover b/c he is using NFL guys.
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Attention Chicken Littles (UGA fans) The sky is not falling. The guys is NFL and what do todays studs like to do after college, go to the NFL. As David Hale said sometime ago UGA can sale the O guys because of Matt and Knowson but the D side was not the same. Well now we can sale the D. This guy will get you ready for the NFL. We’ve got 2 D guys that are going to the Senior Bowl and as of the other day just one who was invited to the combine. We are not exactly ate up with talent. If he brings in NFL coaches thats fine with me. The NFL thing will handle the D recruiting.
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You just knew there would be an AJC blog column today that gave a ringing endorsement to GT’s hire no matter who it was, even if it were Willie Martinez. Whilst Beavis and Butthead at the AUC will take great delight and put much emphasis on mentioning Grantham was fired from the Browns (and completely ignore Groh’s miserable stint at Virginia) and how this hire will only further turn up the “heat” on Richt, who carries an 8-1 record against Georgia Tech.
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per AJC, Tech “Takes a huge step” with Groh.
While Todd Grantham, surely in a sign of mercy “takes UGA job”.
No doubt angry Tech fans will hack Stewart Mandel’s site at SI for his baseless canard about Groh being CFB’s worst HC
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/stewart_mandel/07/10/mailbag/1.html
Groh purportedly required Tech to scrap any discussions of a game with Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse William & Mary
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A very nice tribute to Al Groh!
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If I’m a top notch recruit and I want to play in the NFL after college. I’m going to pay more attention to Grantham than Smart. If I want to play for a coach who knows how to get college kids ready to play in the NFL, I’m paying more attention to Grantham than Smart. I like the hire and Grantham can bring in his guys as LB and DL coach.
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All I know about Grantham is that Richt spent a lot of time looking for candidates and chose him. That’s good enough for now. I’ll make my judgement in a year or two. I can’t imagine it will be worse than we’ve had over the past few years.
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Grantham was my favorite candidate throughout this entire search. Congrats CMR, and welcome Coach Todd Grantham. I welcome the 3-4 changeover and higher level of aggression this change is sure to bring. We have some talent gaps going into next year on the defensive side of the ball but CTG’s new approach gives us a chance to minimize the impact. Offense and STs look to be better in 2010, and the schedule is friendlier. Looking forward to the spring drills with enthusiasm now.
Not knocking the thought of looking at Kirby Smart, but that was a bad idea to pursue so hard and far. Kirby was just the wrong guy at the wrong time and it both complicated and delayed the whole process.
With apologies to the staff at the radically left-leaning AJC, Richt did a nice job in getting a solid coach on board. Could it have been smoother, or quicker? Yes, but CMR kept his eye on the goal and bagged a winner. Hindsight makes everyone brilliant…..well, maybe not Mike Hamilton and the Vol followers who continued to excuse Baby Kiffin’s character flaws.
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Haha.
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Shockingly, Mark Bradley seems to be higher on Grantham, in the long term, at least:
http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2010/01/15/the-question-did-uga-or-tech-make-the-better-hire/
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That’s just Bradley trying to be of both sides of an issue like he usually is.
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If Grantham regards blitzing as something other than an unsportsmanlike last resort, I’ll be happy. Our appalling lack of turnovers owes as much to inadequate QB pressure as it does to bad luck or dropped interceptions.
This seems like a good hire to me, and lets not forget that even small defensive improvement will lead to a much better record, providing the offense doesn’t all catch SARS on the opening day.
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