One day after interviewing with the New Orleans Saints to be their defensive coordinator, which came one day after professing his adoration for Georgia, Todd Grantham released a statement Friday night saying he would remain the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator.
He punctuated his remarks with, ...My family loves it here, and I do as well. This is where our heart is.
Nice touch, even if slightly disengenuous. Dont expect Grantham's heart or any other organs to be sticking around Athens for very long.
Really, this really is not meant as a criticism of Grantham. (Sort of.) As I wrote Wednesday when Granthams sudden candidacy in New Orleans unfortunately intersected with national letter of intent day, he is like almost every other assistant football coach. Hes a climber. He is always going to be looking for the next best thing. He wants to be a head coach one day, which is only natural. But that means his loyalty extends only as far as the next want ad.
Grantham and his agent havent been shy about using his potential candidacy for other jobs for raises. So even if he is focused on his coaching duties while in Athens, this is bound to become a growing distraction and opposing coaches certainly will use it against Georgia in recruiting. That's the problem.
Im not sure what Georgia coach Mark Richt can do about this. I'm not on board with the suggestion by some fans that Grantham should be fired, unless the situation just mutated into something unworkable. But at the very least, Richt and athletic director Greg McGarity need to tell Grantham to be a little more low key about matters, and there can't be repeat of Wednesday's embarrassment in signing day. After Richt's press conference, with some of the signees in an auditorium, several media members made their way to the back of the room to talk to Grantham. This has the potential to become a major distraction over the next year and Richt must be wondering how he is going to deal with it.
The fact Grantham withdrew his name for the Saints job tells me that he probably wasnt going to get it anyway. But he is going to get other job offers, either as an NFL coordinator or a college head coach, and eventually he will be gone. The question is how Richt deals with it until the inevitable happens.
Here's Grantham's statement:
"I want to thank Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints organization for the opportunity to interview and get to know them. They are a first class organization in every respect. As I said Wednesday, Georgia is a great place, my family loves it here, and I do as well. This is where our heart is and today I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the position with the Saints. Im excited to start preparations for another season and along with the rest of our defensive staff look forward to coaching some really good returning players as well as developing some very talented newcomers."
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