Hey, remember the days of coaching hot seat talks threatening to engulf UGA's entire 2011 season? Yeah, Mark Richt probably does, too, but he's a pretty nice guy and won't bring up our faults. Now that the pendulum has swung in the entire other direction, contract extension talks are being rumored for Richt and his staff, especially defensive coordinator and team heavy Todd Grantham.
Grantham's turnaround of the Georgia defense has been nationally recognized this season (they're fourth in the country in total defense after thumping Auburn 45-7 Saturday), and in turn he's become a commodity on the head coaching job market and UGA should extend his existing contract (which actually still has 13 months remaning) right damn now, per Todd Grantham's agent in a report by the AJC's Chip Towers:
Michael Harrison, an attorney with Venture Management of Las Vegas, 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.
Towers also notes that Grantham's contract is waived if he becomes a head coach, hence the push to insert Grantham into the rumor mill for open coaching jobs on the collegiate and pro market (Grantham was linebackers coach of the Cowboys and defensive coordinator for the Browns before coming to Athens).
Towers also points out that such an extension is unlikely under Georgia's new athletic director Mike McGarity, a Jeremy Foley disciple who never agreed to long term deals for assistants the way previous Georgia A.D. Damon Evans did:
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.
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