Your move, Mark Richt.
The college football coaching carousel, always spinning at top speed this time of year, is suddenly pointed toward Georgia’s head coach. The carousel claimed his defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham, who answered Bobby Petrino’s call on Saturday and now works in Louisville.
So what started last week as a simple search for a defensive backfield coach has now morphed into a nationwide hunt for a top-notch coordinator.
Richt was in Indianapolis on Sunday for the annual American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) convention. But he returned to Athens after Monday’s morning meetings to concentrate on finding replacements for Grantham and secondary coach Scott Lakatos.
In the meantime, there is no guarantee that the attrition is over for the Bulldogs’ defensive staff. According to numerous reports out of Alabama, UGA defensive line coach Chris Wilson interviewed for the same position with the Crimson Tide on Monday. But he didn’t get the job.
Late in the day Monday, Alabama announced that it had hired Bo Davis to fill that position. Interestingly, Davis just left Alabama last year. He went to Texas to work for Mack Brown, who was forced to resign at the end of the season. Davis then accepted a job at Southern Cal, where he worked for a week before accepting the offer to return to Alabama.
Who is Davis replacing at Alabama? Chris Rumph, who just left for Texas. Effectively they switched jobs.
Such is the backdrop as Richt makes what could be the most important hire of his 13-year tenure at Georgia. According to several reports in Kentucky, the Bulldogs were set to hire Wildcats’ cornerbacks coach Derrick Ansley to replace Lakatos, who resigned this past Thursday. However, that move was put on hold when Grantham left for Louisville.
There are unlikely to be any hires until Richt has settled on a defensive coordinator. To whom might he turn? Here are a few viable options:
- Jeremy Pruitt: The current FSU defensive coordinator will come at a high price after helping the Seminoles win the national championship. According to the Palm Beach Post, he makes $500,000 now but will command much more than that after this season. Grantham was making $850,000 at Georgia. Pruitt has been with Jimbo Fisher for just one year after coming over from Alabama, where he was secondary coach from 2010-12 and won two national championships
- Kirby Smart: The Bulldogs will likely make overtures but it's unlikely they will be able to lure him away from Tuscaloosa. Georgia made a failed run at the UGA letterman in 2009. He makes $1.3 million and his next move would likely be to a head coaching position.
- Kirk Olivadotti: The Bulldogs' current linebackers coach has passed up several job offers in order to remain at Georgia and has made it known he aspires to be a defensive coordinator. He's the son of longtime NFL defensive coordinator Tom Olivadotti and has 10 years of NFL experience.
- David Gibbs: Gibbs did great things in one season as Houston's defensive coordinator. The son of longtime NFL assistant Alex Gibbs, he shaved 15 points per game off Houston's scoring defense in one season. Most of his experience is in the NFL but he coordinated the Auburn defense one season in 2005.
- Manny Diaz: The former Texas defensive coordinator worked with Richt at FSU in the late 1990s. But Diaz was unceremoniously fired by Mack Brown on Sept. 7 after the Longhorns gave up 550 yard rushing in a loss to BYU.
