PHOTO: USA Today Sports
The coaching carousel continues to spin and Sunday's surprising news involved Louisville backing up a Brinks truck (to the tune of $1 million per year for five years) for Georgia Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham. Louisville AD Tom Jurich showed earlier this off-season that he wasn't afraid to take a risk when he re-hired Bobby Petrino. The Grantham hire is every bit as much of a risk and maybe even more of a question-mark.
Grantham joined the Georgia Bulldogs in 2010 as Defensive Coordinator and the results have been mixed. In his four years, Georgia has ranked 5th (2010), 6th (2011), 6th (2012) and 10th (2013) in the SEC in scoring defense and they've ranked 4th (2010), 4th (2011), 6th (2012) and 8th (2013) in total defense. Despite finishing 6th in scoring and total defense in 2012, the Georgia defense had seven players drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft including two first round picks.
Most who follow Georgia football would describe Grantham's tenure as underachieving and undisciplined. The majority of the fanbase wanted him removed after this season but Mark Richt made the decision to stay with Grantham because of the youth that Georgia had on defense in 2013 and with 10 starters returning on the 2014 unit he felt continuity was the best approach.
Grantham saw the writing on the wall (2014 being a make it or break it year for him at Georgia) and with more money and a five year deal he jumped at the chance to go out on his own terms. Grantham comes to Louisville with four years of college DC experience and a fresh start. He will inherit a defensive unit that Charlie Strong taught how to play the right way. It will be very interesting to see how he approaches the Louisville job and if he can avoid the same mistakes he made at Georgia.
For Georgia, this move has invigorated the fanbase and as Barrett Sallee put it, is addition by subtraction. This hire could very well define Mark Richt's career at Georgia as he is still looking for his first National Title, which is something that many of his peers in the SEC have already achieved.
