SEC teams are shelling out crazy money for assistants, but Todd Grantham is worth every penny
I could almost hear the collective groan when Todd Grantham’s salary went public Tuesday.
Let me correct myself.
I could almost hear the collective groan when Todd Grantham’s record-setting salary went public Tuesday.
It’s true that the Gators have never paid an assistant as much as the $1.39 million that their new defensive coordinator will make in 2018. It’s also true that thanks to Dave Aranda, who is a few months removed from signing a record-setting deal for $2.5 million annually at LSU, that contracts for assistants are sky-rocketing faster than Tua Tagovailoa’s stock.
We’re now living in a world where coaches like Grantham and Aranda are making comparable salaries to Group of 5 head coaches (Aranda is actually set to earn more than what 14 Power 5 coaches made in 2017). It’s a crazy reality that, in my opinion, is only going to distance the gap between Group of 5 schools and Power 5 programs.
But while I have some reservations about those soaring assistants contracts, I’m still a capitalist who believes that everyone should be able to make as much money as the market deems worthy.
Grantham not just the product of a bloated market. He’s absolutely worth the $1.39 million that he’ll make in 2018 (it increases $100,000 every year).
If you don’t agree with that, perhaps you slept through 2017.
Credit: Florida Gators
Rewind to the end of the 2016 season when Mississippi State was coming off a 6-7 season under Dan Mullen. They only got to play in a bowl game because their APR gave them a rare opportunity to do so with 5 wins. They only won that bowl game because Miami (OH) forgot how to kick field goals.
What does any of that have to do with Grantham? Oh yeah. Mullen couldn’t fix MSU’s defense, which finished 93rd in scoring. So at season’s end, he went out and hired Grantham to do just that. And what did Grantham do in his one season in Starkville? You guessed it. He fixed the defense.
MSU went from 93rd to 26th in scoring defense. While Mullen’s offense might have gotten more attention, it actually only improved by 1.6 points per game from 2016. Grantham’s blitz-happy defense was the reason that MSU went from a team that only made a bowl game because of a technicality to a team that finished in the Associated Press Top 25.
Needless to say, the well-traveled Grantham was worth more than the $660,000 that he made in 2017 (No. 48 among assistants according to USA Today). As soon as the dust settled on Mullen’s somewhat surprising departure to Florida, a second thought probably crept into the minds of MSU fans.
“Man, I really hope Joe Moorhead can keep Grantham on board.”
I don’t know what those negotiations started at, but based on where they finished, I doubt anything less than a new 7-figure deal was discussed. Whether he genuinely meant it or not, it turned out to be a pretty wise move by Grantham to say before the 2017 season that he was tired of moving his family and that he hoped to stay in Starkville (it was his seventh home in 16 years).
Obviously it was going to take a big chunk of change to get Grantham to follow Mullen to Florida. But after seeing the jolt that Grantham provided at MSU, you knew Mullen was going to try and use Florida’s deep pockets to his advantage.
That’s why Grantham is set to earn more money than all but 4 assistants made in 2017. With Cece Jefferson playing the Montez Sweat role of rush end and key returners like David Reese back, the expectation is that Florida will turn around its defense overnight while Mullen takes the more long-term approach to fixing the offense.
Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
But maybe this just speaks to the change in perspective of how assistants are valued. We’re seeing more coaches who are super advanced on one side of the ball who turn around and spend big bucks for coordinators to cover their non-area of expertise. It happened all over the SEC this offseason.
Look at Tennessee, where defensive-minded Jeremy Pruitt hired USC quarterbacks coach Tyson Helton for $1.2 million to revamp the Vols’ offense. Compare that to the $655,000 that previous Tennessee OC Larry Scott made under “offensive-minded” Butch Jones.
Arkansas did the same thing. It went out and hired offensive guru Chad Morris as its next head coach, and then it paid John Chavis just shy of $1 million to turn around the No. 114 scoring defense in FBS.
This isn’t just a trend for programs with new head coaches leading their first big-time programs. Texas A&M paid offensive-minded Jimbo Fisher $75 million guaranteed and then lured Notre Dame defensive coordinator Mike Elko with $1.8 million annually, which was as much as any assistant made in 2017. That all went down after Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly called the surging coordinator salaries “ridiculous” (Kelly also tried to shoot down rumors that Elko would leave South Bend, but money talks).
Call me crazy, but Grantham’s new contract doesn’t sound so “ridiculous” given the context. He’s still only making roughly a quarter of Mullen’s salary (Aranda’s $2.5 million is 71 percent of Ed Orgeron’s $3.5 million). For a guy who played a massive part in turning around MSU, it’s easy to justify that Grantham was worth the price that it took to get him to Gainesville.
It feels like we’re finally seeing athletic directors give into head coaches’ desires to ramp up their pools for assistant salaries. Shoot, Bret Bielema only went to Arkansas because Wisconsin refused to budge on paying assistants more. For better or worse, we’re seeing that trend turn around.
Grantham’s salary is a big part of a record-setting $4.74 million that Florida will pay its assistants in 2018. That’s $1.44 million more than the $3.3 million that Jim McElwain got for his staff in 2015. For all you math nerds, that’s a 44 percent increase in just 3 years. And by the way, neither of McElwain’s coordinators started with $500,000 salaries. If that doesn’t show you how much the market has changed, nothing will.
There’s no doubt that Grantham benefitted greatly from this assistant salary boom. He certainly picked the perfect time to lead a defensive turnaround.
If and when he does that again, nobody will balk at that $1.39 million.
Grantham is a mediocre coach at best. He gets great individual efforts but not good team results. Look at every big game he has coached in over the past 8 years and see how many times his kids were blown out.
Amen. Just look at the roster he had at UGA – loaded with NFL talent, yet his best year as DC was mediocre. There’s a reason he’s a “well-traveled” DC and not a HC.
You didn’t appreciate the job that TG did for the program? Before he arrived our scoring defense wasn’t that good (rank 63/58). He improve the scoring defense to 36, 23, 18 but decline in 2013 (79). Also his defense helped the dawgs get back to the sec championship (2011-12) after 6 long years of watching other teams compete for the title. It’s not all his fault that they didn’t win one of those titles.
LOL. Anyone is an improvement over Soft Willie Martinez.
But there is a reason why Third and Grantham is a thing.
There is a reason why all of DawgNation loved the fact that Grantham is the DC at Floriduh.
Check out the offensive PPG those years – there’s your answer for the back-to-back SECCG appearances. The reason UGA couldn’t get over the hump those two years was the D. The 2012 SECCG was a prime example. That game wasn’t lost due to the last few seconds, it was lost because Grantham and his D couldn’t stop the run up the middle. Over, and over, and over . . .
Bashing this man doesn’t change the fact that his defense helped the dawgs get to the sec title game and if Todd Gurley and K Marshall had not gotten injured in 2013 they might have played for another sec title and beyond.
I believe Mark Richt’s poor strength program played a role in the defense deficiencies.
They scored more points in 2014 but they didn’t play for the sec title.
During Grantham’s 4 years as UGA DC the Dawgs lost 18 games. In 13 of those 18 losses the average score was UGA 29.5, Opponent 35.1. The offense did it’s job, scoring better than 4 TDs per game. Grantham’s D, loaded with blue-chip talent and future pros, allowed over 5 TDs per game. If he could have held the opponent to JUST 24 PPG (a bad stat in itself), UGA would have won ten of those and gone to OT in an 11th.
Granted, defensive and special teams scoring are not broken down, but the theme is still the same for the Grantham years: way, WAY too many games got away because of his D.
And then there were the salary games he played every year with the administration. Most of us were just glad to see him gone.
And I agree about the Richt’s strength program being a liability (as UF is finding out about McElwain’s). That and his love for smaller O-linemen put the Dawgs behind the 8-ball in many games. I think Kirby’s strength program had a lot to do with cutting down on injuries last year, as well as late-game strength and stamina when it counted (ND, Oklahoma).
I’m glad you noticed. Richt’s strength program was my #1 concern and it was clear as day! The 1980 team might have been small compared to most teams but they were strong and relentless. Kirby’s team kinda remind me of Vince Dooley’s team.
I remember watching the coin toss in that Sugar Bowl game – the Irish captains all seemed to be a half-foot taller than our guys. Thank God for Scott Woerner.
Too much of the justification for Grantham’s salary is based on MSU’s 2017 season. Look at his overall performance at UGA when he had NFL talent at his disposal. One good year and the rest were frankly mediocre given the talent.
Connor, this is some real delusional thinking right here.
You’d be better to look at Grantham’s performance vs. Top-25 teams during his time at UGA, Louisville, and MissState. More often than not, his defenses are blown out of the water (even when his overall team wins the game).
There is a reason why Third and Grantham is a thing, Connor. (Have fun with that, by the way)
There is a reason why the entirety of DawgNation were happy as clams when Mullen announced Grantham was joining him at Floriduh.
It means y’all are the new us. Doomed to 9 and 10 win seasons that don’t really mean anything while Kirby is pursuing titles.
Have fun!
You couldn’t pay me enough to put someone of his character in charge of young men. I mean, I like to win as much, if not more, than most, but I think that you can win without being a pos.
Has Grantham blossomed as a DC? Or will he be just another in a string of SEC one-hit wonder assistants? This season will tell us a lot. One thing for sure, he better have a really good secondary coach on his staff because his defenses expose that unit if the front can’t get to a passing QB.
We should all bookmark this article and check back in 2-3 years. I think the writer might be singing a different tune on Grantham by then.
I can’t wait to see the UF defense looking to the sidelines, waving their arms frantically, all out of alignment right before the ball is snapped. I hope this happens a lot at the Cocktail Party.
So, I decided to check back after a year. Grantham took Florida’s scoring defense from #69 in 2017 to #20, total defense from #31 in 2017 to #28 in 2018.
I use to hate Bobby Pertrino – then he hired Grantham away from UGA.
So, I decided to check back after a year. Grantham took Florida’s scoring defense from #69 in 2017 to #20, total defense from #31 in 2017 to #28 in 2018.
Ignore previous comment. Meant as reply to above.