Report: Ex-Gators DC Todd Grantham accepts offer to join SEC staff
Former Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will be staying in the SEC.
Grantham has accepted a job as an analyst at Alabama, according to On3’s Matt Zenitz. FootballScoop’s John Brice first reported Thursday that Grantham was engaged in discussions to join Nick Saban’s staff.
Grantham and Saban have history together.
After spending six years as an assistant at his alma mater, Virginia Tech, Grantham was hired in 1996 as the Michigan State defensive line coach by Saban, who was heading into his second season with the Spartans.
Grantham said he learned a lot from him during their time together in East Lansing.
“I worked for him three years,” Grantham said in 2020. “Have the utmost respect for him. And a lot of the things we do from a fundamental and philosophical standpoint come from my times with him.
“When I went there, it was probably the biggest adjustment I had to make from a coaching standpoint. Just from terminology, philosophy, how he recruited, all of that relative to coming from Virginia Tech. So that really was a big growth in my career.”
Prior to the 1998 season, Saban promoted Grantham to associate head coach at the age of 31. He left the following year to be the defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts.
Grantham spent 11 years in the NFL with Colts (1999–2001), Houston Texans (2002–04), Cleveland Browns (2005–07) and Dallas Cowboys (2008–09), serving as the defensive coordinator in Cleveland.
Grantham was also the DC at Georgia (2010-13), Louisville (2014-16) and Mississippi State (2017) before coming to UF (2018-21).
“Have a lot of respect for him as a signal caller, a guy that will put together a really good game plan,” Saban said of Grantham in 2020.
Grantham was fired by former Florida coach Dan Mullen last season following the Gators’ loss at South Carolina, along with offensive line coach John Hevesy.
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Grantham and Hevesy were in the final year of their contracts at UF. Grantham made $1.8 million annually, and Hevesy was getting $620,000.
Inside linebackers coach Christian Robinson assumed defensive play-calling duties for the rest of the season, while Paul Pasqualoni was elevated to outside linebackers coach.
Toney takes over for Grantham
New UF coach Billy Napier retained Pasqualoni as director of advanced scouting and self scout, but the Carolina Panthers hired him away as their defensive line coach.
Napier said he will look to fill Pasqualoni’s role. He did retain any assistant coaches from Mullen’s staff, though he did tab Gator Great Mike Peterson as outside linebackers coach.
Napier hired co-defensive coordinators in defensive line coach Sean Spencer and safeties coach Patrick Toney, who will call the plays on defense.
“Patrick Toney will call the defense. Sean obviously is a veteran coach that has a tremendous input and background at multiple stops, but Patrick will do the play-calling,” Napier revealed to Gators Online earlier this month.
