Three Things to Know About Todd Grantham, Oklahoma State’s Next Defensive Coordinator

Oklahoma State didn’t take long to tab a replacement for outgoing defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo. It was reported Sunday that OSU was set to hire Todd Grantham, a long-tenured defensive coach with experience both at the college and pro levels.

Of course, since then, we’ve been digging into Grantham’s career to try to futilely project the impact he could have in Stillwater. Here are three thoughts on the hire and what it might mean for the Cowboys moving forward.

1. He Definitely Has Experience

Just because the hire was seemingly quick doesn’t mean it was rushed. If you were in the camp bothered by previous hires like Nardo, who came with no D-I experience, Grantham is the antithesis.

Over the last 34 years, Grantham has coached in some capacity at either the Power 5 or NFL level without a break. His most recent stint as the New Orleans Saints’ defensive line coach (2023) was his first NFL gig since serving in the same capacity with the Dallas Cowboys in 2008-09. This most recent stint in the college ranks included stops as the defensive coordinator at Georgia, Louisville, Mississippi State and Florida.

He originally got his start at Virginia Tech, his alma mater, and served as a position coach at several schools before making the move to the NFL in 1999. He made the leap to defensive coordinator when he ran the Cleveland Browns’ D from 2005-07.

All that to say, he’s coached a lot of football at a very high level.

2. He’s Had Pockets of Success

Grantham has bounced around over the years, but he’s no stranger to success.

He put together and coached some pretty salty and productive defensive lines both with the Indianapolis Colts and then at his next stop, the newly formed Houston Texans. After rebuilding Houston’s defensive line over three seasons, Grantham was offered the DC position at Cleveland. Unlike most of his coaching changes, he was let go by the Browns after two seasons. But that franchise is famously historically bad, so you kind have to give him a pass on fielding a bottom-rung defense.

Recently, he’s had some strong defenses at the highest levels of college football.

His 2011 Georgia team ranked in the top 15 in passing, rushing and total defense and 30th in scoring defense. His moves to Mississippi State and Florida were because he was handpicked by head coach Dan Mullen. He was even reportedly offered the DC gig by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019 but turned it down to stay at Florida.

Grantham’s second job, immediately following his alma mater, was as the DL coach under Nick Saban at Michigan State. The two were reunited when Saban hired Grantham to be one of his fleet of analysts for the 2022, which is the only year he didn’t work as a position coach or higher in that 34-year stretch.

3. What Any of That Means for OSU

It’s really hard to say.

The Cowboys have to replace a lot from their defense between exhausted eligibility, the NFL and the portal. But more than retooling, the Pokes need a culture reset. You can blame injuries, coaches, the players that didn’t live up to their potential, but the fact remains — there has been a lot more bad football than good football played in Stillwater over the last year. On the defensive side, you could carry that all the way back to about 2022.

And if we’re going to swallow what might be an unpopular truth, OSU’s best defenses under Gundy have tended to be more lightning-in-a-bottle scenarios than sustained successes. Glenn Spencer’s 2013 defense and Jim Knowles’ 2021 squad stand out as high-water marks for the Pokes. The 2011 defense was also good, and forced a ton of turnovers (Spencer was co-DC). Knowles was hired away so it’s hard to say how long his success could have been sustained.

If you’ll indulge me, here are some of the most important numbers to look at when it comes to defenses. I’ve included points per game, total defense, turnovers forced, third downs and maybe the single best number for gauging the effectiveness of a unit, adjusted points per drive. If you peruse these numbers during Gundy’s tenure, you see these high points but it’s hard to predict other than the obvious upward trajectory under Knowles. Look at OSU’s PPD numbers from his first year in 2018 to his crowning 2021 get-paid year. Then you can see the drop off to what was a historically bad defense in 2024.

So, what does all of this mean? Again, it’s hard to say.

Coming off a what’s been a career-low season for Gundy in a lot of ways, the Cowboys were in desperate need of some fresh blood, and they’ve got it. There are still staff changes to be made, chief among those being a new offensive coordinator, which will go a long way toward affecting change.

If you are of the glass-half-full contingent, you can remember that Knowles was Gundy’s pick and that the Grantham hire is as close to the Knowles hire — from the standpoint of experience and success — as arguably any DC brought in under Gundy. If you’re more of the wait-and-see type, I could understand that too.