Leatherneck Nation

sealhall74 wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2017 6:43 pm Where are the leaks when you need them? No way could a P5 program keep something under wraps this long.

I honestly expected an announcement today about it. Sorry about the "tease".

I met the New DC this morning...he's on campus and is excited to be a part of Leatherneck Football. He will be a very nice addition to our staff. He's got good experience at the D1 level and comes from good football blood. I was told it would be announced today...hopefully tomorrow.

I also toured the newly renovated football lockroom and can finally say we have a D1 locker room! It is absolutely beautiful and will help in securing future recruits. The Western Illinois logos in the carpet are quite impressive.

The new strength and conditioning coach is doing a fantastic job and has done a great job of cleaning up the weight room. He's added several new items to aid in the development of our athletes. We had numerous football players have personal bests during max out week. He's made a huge impact in a short time!

Be patient...the announcement is coming soon!

Must be some top secret info I just hope it's not another DC whose defense gets worse every year

It has been officially announced...

Took long enough, but here it is: Leatherneck Football Adds Two Coaches to Defensive Staff

Our new DC is Tony Grantham, who was most recently the LB coach at Louisville. His brother Todd, was the DC at Louisville and was just recently hired as the DC at Mississippi State. Also, Tony's wife is Molly (Dexter) is the granddaughter of Dr. Donald Dexter and Ruth Dexter (deceased) here in Macomb. Dr. Dexter was the team doctor for the football team back in the '70s and maybe '80s (don't know exact years). So, Coach Grantham and his wife are at least somewhat familiar with the area and the program. He was also the outside linebackers and special teams coach at Eastern Illinois back in the early '00s.

So, he's got FCS experience, big-time FBS experience. This is his first time at a DC position, but it sounds like him and his brother both REALLY know defense. This may be a "stepping-stone" position for him to move up to a DC position at an FBS school, but for that to happen, he's likely going to need to get the defense turned around and on solid footing first.

Idk about you guys, but I'm pretty excited about getting Coach Grantham as the new DC. I think he'll be a great fit.

Don't like the fact he's never been a DC but will just have to give it time and see

I like the hire better than our last DC hire. I'm personally not a fan of 3-4 at the FCS level, but am intrigued with the current personnel and it might be the key to us getting more pressure. More pressure should equal less passing yards and that's what killed us last year.

I'm going to take a look at the current personnel and see how I think they'll fit. Please share your thoughts as well. Know we might add a few guys over the summer, so it could change, but maybe we'll see a UofL DL or OLB come over.

Spring Practice starts today!

Grantham was fired in January by Louisville. I'm surprised it took this long for him to find a job. He was making $300,000 at Louisville.

LeatherCy wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2017 3:29 pm Grantham was fired in January by Louisville. I'm surprised it took this long for him to find a job. He was making $300,000 at Louisville.

Was he fired due to poor performance, or was he just let go because their former DC (his brother) was hired away to Mississippi State and the new DC (who, incidentally, was the previous DC at Mississippi State) was wanting to clear out the old guys and get in some of his guys?