MUSIC CITY BOWL

Grantham: Facing former team not a big factor

Jeff Greer

@jeffgreer_cj

Long-time Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer recognized Todd Grantham's coaching potential pretty quickly.

Grantham was a junior offensive lineman for the Hokies when Beamer took over the program in 1987. He was a Virginia boy who'd played his high school football for Pulaski County High, a powerhouse program just 30 minutes from Virginia Tech's campus, and there was just something about him.

"He played hard and he worked hard," Beamer said. "But what you really noticed was how smart he was. You could see that right away."

So, no, it doesn't surprise Beamer that Grantham's cultivated a 26-year coaching career at the college and professional level since his last game as a Hokie in 1988. It certainly doesn't surprise him that Grantham's most recent work as the defensive coordinator at the University of Louisville has helped the Cardinals rank among the nation's best defenses in 2014.

"When you sit in a room and hear people talk, you can figure it out," Beamer said. "I've been around a lot of good football and a lot of good football coaches. He gets it. He's one of them. Not everybody gets talented players to play at a high level. He does."

Grantham started at U of L in January, joining new head coach Bobby Petrino's staff after four seasons at the University of Georgia. Petrino lured him out of Athens, Ga., with what was the nation's fourth-highest salary at the time, saying Grantham's UGA defense impressed him when he coached at Arkansas.

At U of L, Grantham took over a defense that already had become one of the nation's best units under former head coach Charlie Strong and his defensive coordinator, Vance Bedford, and he maintained it.

Last year, Louisville ranked in the nation's top five in total, scoring, rushing and passing defense. The Cardinals were second in sacks, first in third-down defense and fifth in red-zone defense.

Two of their starters, safety Calvin Pryor and defensive end Marcus Smith, became first-round NFL draft picks after that season, and U of L also lost long-time starters Preston Brown and Hakeem Smith. Strong took the head coaching job at Texas in January, and Bedford followed him there.

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Considering all those departures, Louisville's defense – at least what was left of it – was expected to take a step back, especially when Grantham changed the defensive scheme from a 4-3 set to a 3-4.

But Grantham refused to accept those expectations, and his confidence held up. U of L is second in the nation in interceptions, third in rushing and third-down defense, fifth in total defense, 19th in scoring defense and 30th in passing defense.

Safety Gerod Holliman became Louisville's first Associated Press first-team All-American since 2005, and six Cardinals received All-ACC honors.

"These guys embraced the changes we were going to make," Grantham said. "They believed in our system."

Grantham insists he hasn't paid all that much attention to the most obvious story line heading into Tuesday's bowl game: Him vs. his old team.

He knows all about Georgia and its history. He knows the Bulldogs well. He knows their coaches even better.

But he swears he's just been recruiting , spending time with his family and working with his new team since that Dec. 7 announcement that he'd be facing his former employer in an intriguing bowl game.

"I don't think that will be as big a factor as you guys will make it out to be," Grantham said. "We know we have to play well."

Still, his year has come full circle, and Tuesday's game affords Grantham the chance to show off those smarts that Beamer saw so many years ago.

It seems silly to think 26 years later that Grantham once considered a broadcasting career if playing and coaching football didn't work out.

"I'm still coaching, aren't I?" Grantham joked. "That says all you need to know about that idea. I think I made the right choice."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).

BELK BOWL

GEORGIA VS. LOUISVILLE

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Charlotte, N.C.

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