Why Frank Beamer says Todd Grantham will be 'a great fit' with Oklahoma State football
Scott WrightThe Oklahoman
STILLWATER — Back in 1990, when Frank Beamer hired Todd Grantham as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech, the coach had no idea what he was creating.
Beamer had taken over the program for the 1987 season, when Grantham was going into his senior year as an offensive tackle.
Yet when Grantham returned to help the coaching staff in 1990, Beamer moved him to the defensive line.
And Grantham never looked back.
Though the 58-year-old Grantham played his entire college career on offense, he has never coached that side of the ball in his 34 years in the profession.
Now taking over as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator, Grantham is a well-established defensive mind who has had success at the top level of college football, as well as the NFL — tracking all the way back to Beamer’s decision to give him a job helping with the Hokies’ defensive line.
“It gave him a great start as a defensive line coach, because he knew what he had been doing trying to block them,” Beamer told The Oklahoman. “Playing offense helped him become a really good defensive coach.”
Above all, Grantham was a strong communicator, even as a player, and Beamer saw that flourish even more when Grantham began coaching.
“He was always a hard worker,” Beamer said. “He’s a guy who would really grind over the game. Sometimes, coaches that are just really talented don’t know how they did something, they just did it. They can’t really coach it.
“But Todd, he always had to work hard for everything he got. He studied the game and he was very smart.”
Grantham stayed with Beamer through the 1996 season, then joined Nick Saban at Michigan State, which further polished his coaching skills before he moved to the NFL for a decade.
From there, Grantham landed at Georgia, which began a string of multiple successful stints as a college defensive coordinator.
“You knew it was gonna happen,” Beamer said of Grantham’s success. “He had the right background and he had the right drive. He worked at it. No one was gonna outwork him.”
Though Beamer never worked directly with OSU coach Mike Gundy, Beamer can see why Grantham was an attractive fit with the Cowboys.
“Based on the impression I get from Mike Gundy,” Beamer said, “I think it’ll be a great fit.”
