Louisville football: Todd Grantham to be named defensive coordinator

The last major component of the new Bobby Petrino at Louisville is reportedly in place. According to ESPN's Joe Schad, Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham will be leaving his position with the Bulldogs to become Louisville's new defensive coordinator. Grantham was defensive coordinator under Mark Richt from 2010-2013 with mixed results. Prior to Georgia, Grantham was a defensive line coach with multiple NFL teams and served as the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator from 2005-2007.

Grantham's hiring is noteworthy for two reason. First, he's being given an incredible raise to $1 million per year and being given a five year contract. Both figures are fairly unheard of among assistant coaches in college football. News of it has been greeted with incredulity by some in college football, considering the on-field results were often less than expected given the talent Grantham had to work with. Second, Grantham came to Georgia from the NFL specifically to implement a 3-4 defense. It's what he does. So now, Louisville will be spending the winter and spring implementing a new defense and seeing just which pieces fit and what they need to try and get before national signing day to make it work.