After a handful of days of will he/won’t he drama, Todd Grantham will (for now) continue on at his defensive spot between the hedges.
One day after interviewing for the defensive coordinator position with the New Orleans Saints, Grantham announced through the school Friday that he will return as Georgia’s defensive coordinator in 2013. While Grantham’s statement says that he had “withdrawn my name from consideration” for the NFL job, it’s unknown at this point whether he was offered the job and turned it down or if he received a “thanks, but no thanks” response from the Saints.
Regardless of the particulars, Grantham is back to being all-in with the Bulldogs.
“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,” Grantham’s statement began. “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 This is where our heart is and today I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the position with the Saints.
“I’m 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.”
Thursday, athletic director Greg McGarity confirmed Grantham had informed him that, as stipulated in his contract, he would be interviewing with New Orleans. In addition to the Saints, Grantham’s name had been connected to the coordinator job with the Philadelphia Eagles as well.
While Grantham has spent the past three seasons with the Bulldogs, his previous 11 years of coaching have been spent at the NFL level. It’s long been assumed Grantham will ultimately return to that level, in large part because of the fact that’s he’s a highly-regarded commodity in several corners of that league.