Todd Grantham’s Vision for UAB’s Defense in 2026

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - January 28, 2026

Todd Grantham didn’t take the UAB defensive coordinator job simply because he was looking for work.

Sure, the proven veteran defensive coordinator was job hunting after getting caught up in the transition at Oklahoma State. Long-time head coach Mike Gundy’s 21-year tenure at Oklahoma State ended after the third week of the 2025 season. A week later, Grantham, who was in his first season in Stillwater as the defensive coordinator, was shown the door.

His unemployment lasted until late December, ending soon after fielding a call from UAB head coach Alex Mortensen. In an interview with The Banner earlier this month, Mortensen left no doubt why he chose Grantham, mentioning not only previously being on a staff with him at the University of Alabama but also have to compete against him when Grantham was at other SEC programs.

Grantham said he was “intrigued” when he got the first phone call.

“The more we talked, the more confident I got in his vision and the more excited I got,” the 59-year-old Grantham said. “You know, at my age, and not that I'm old, but I'm not young either, right, I'm going to choose where I work. It's not like I have to take a job. I'm at the point where I can choose where I want to go. I didn't want to go to the National Football League. I would rather be (a coordinator) than a senior analyst or a position coach because I enjoy the coordinating. I enjoy the collecting of the players, getting your team, building your team. I enjoy all that. And really, it's in a part of the country I like and with a person that I respect. I'm looking forward to trying to make a difference with what we're going to do.”

For the first time, Grantham will coach in a program that is not currently in a Power Four conference or the NFL. His resume include 10 years coaching in the SEC at four different programs. He was the defensive coordinator at Louisville when the Cardinals transitioned from the American Athletic Conference to the ACC.  His coaching journey also includes stops with four different NFL organizations over 12 seasons.

The former Virginia Tech honorable mention All-American offensive lineman is approaching his new job the same way he’s done since beginning his coaching career at his alma mater.

“It's just football,” Grantham said of joining a Group of Five program. “Truthfully, there's a lot of guys that probably wouldn't have taken this job because of (it not being Power Four). I mean, there are two things. One, the level and, two, the success or lack of success from last year. They probably would have been intimidated. I'm not intimidated, I embrace that. I enjoy football, I enjoy coaching, but I also enjoy people. So I have a lot of respect for Coach Mortensen. Like I said, when I first talked to him, the vision he wants, that excited me. For me, I look at how excited our fan base is going to be when we get a bowl bid. This thing about where we are now to the day we get bowl qualified and then we build it to the chance of us being able to go to the conference championship, that excites me. I don’t care about what level it is, I just like coaching.”

Grantham takes over what is almost a blank slate on the defensive side. UAB’s current roster includes just six defensive players who saw game time last season. Those six players have a combined eight starts with six of those by cornerback Delvon Gulley. Defensive tackle Kyle Mosley is the lone returnee to start in the season finale win at Tulsa and that was his lone start of the season. The Blazers also return three more players – cornerback Isaiah Crozier and defensive ends J’Quan Mason and Chris Burge – who played a significant role.

There were plenty of spots to fill when Grantham came to Birmingham in early January. He led the way as the coaching staff began filling in the defensive side of the roster. During what amounted to nearly the first three weeks of January, UAB used the transfer portal to sign 41 players with 27 of those coming on the defensive side. UAB added 12 defensive backs, 10 defensive linemen and five linebackers.

“My focus has been on guys that are hungry and want to be here,” Grantham said of building a defense. “Obviously, you got to have talent for the position you play. But you look for guys that are competitive, guys that like football, guys that are self-starters. Those are the kind of guys that we've really tried to focus on to develop our team. Then it won't be so much that we're changing a culture as it is we need to develop our identity. We're going to all be new and everything. So that's going to be the next step as we finish (recruiting) and then really starting to work on the bonding of our team. I'm a big believer in team, big believer in bonding, big believer in if a player trusts you as a coach and believes in you, then they're going to play their tail off. Just like if a player believes in the guy next to him and trusts him, he’s going to be where he needs to be.”

Versatility was also a focus during the recruiting process.

“You don't want to pigeonhole yourself into saying he can only do this,” Grantham said. “You'd like to recruit guys and bring guys in that have flexibility because, at the end of the day, defensively, you always like to rank your guys 1 through 41 or whatever. Well, if you rank them that way and a guy gets hurt, you don't want to say the 12th or the 13th best player is not going in the game because they don't know what to do or they don’t fit. And then you're taking a 20th ranked player. Defense is about getting to the football. I think one of the assets I have are experiences when I was a coordinator in the NFL. On game day, you may only have 21 to 23 players active for you, so you cross-train guys. You need guys to be able to play more than one position. So that's kind of the way I've always recruited. Maybe a safety can play nickel, a corner can play nickel, a defensive end can play defensive tackle, a Jack outside linebacker can play defensive end. Then you just put it all together and then try to get a way to get your best 11 players on the field.”

The work toward that has already begun but it will really take shape when UAB gets on the practice field in the spring. No matter who is on the field, Grantham has an idea of what he expects the defense to look like.

“My style of play as far as play is always talking about being fast, physical, and aggressive,” Grantham said. “I want us to play fast because there's speed on the other side and part of being aggressive is being physical. I've had top 10 defenses at every stop I've had. If you're not physical up front and don't have a relentless attitude to you, you're not going to be the kind of defense that I would want us to be. So I always go back to being fast, physical, and aggressive.”