College Football: 5 best coordinators who will be head coaches by 2021

Could 2021 be the year for Todd Grantham? Well, he’ll be coordinating the defense on what should be one of the better teams in the country in the Florida Gators. The last ride on the coaching carousel had Grantham start to garner serious consideration for serious head coaching opportunities, most notably his former employer, Mississippi State. However, he opted to stay at Florida.

After spending a decade coaching in the NFL in the 2000s, Grantham has been all-in on the college game since leaving the Dallas Cowboys in 2009 to be Mark Richt‘s defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia. In the years since, Grantham has served under Bobby Petrino at Louisville and under Dan Mullen at both Mississippi State and now at Florida. 2021 might be his time.

Admittedly, Grantham could be a little too fiery to be what many boosters would want to have as a college head coach. However, he is swimming in experience and could have a great deal of success if he ended up at the right Power 5 job. One program that might be too good of an option for him to pass up would be his alma mater, the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Justin Fuente‘s reputation since leaving Memphis has cooled off a bit in Blacksburg. If he gets worked by Bronco Mendenhall’s Virginia Cavaliers in the Commonwealth Cup, maybe VT makes a change at the helm. The Hokies won’t have Bud Foster coordinating the defense anymore, as he has retired. Though it doesn’t have to be Virginia Tech, Grantham will field some phone calls.