There are two situations in football where there is zero incentive to tell the truth, one in the NFL and the other in the college game.
At the professional level, there is zero benefit to accurately representing your draft intentions, and in the college game there is a similar nil benefit to honestly admitting whether or not you offered/were offered a given job, depending on what side of the interview desk you happen to sit.
As such, all information regarding such transactions or possible transactions should be taken with an entire shaker’s worth of salt.
Given all that, we have these comments today. Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran told his hometown paper today that, yes, he was offered Georgia’s offensive coordinator job but just loved Kentucky too much to take it.
“Serious in the point that they offered the job,” he told the Lexington Herald-Leader. “It came down to: I love this community. I love this administration — Dr. (Eli) Capilouto, Mitch Barnhart — the guy that I work for is fantastic. And I’ve become a part of this community, and I love it. I think we’re doing some things that are special, and those (were) all a part of the decision-making when I decided to stay.”
Now, you’ll never hear any coach employed by Kentucky publicly admit, Yep, I really, really wanted to get that Georgia job but they just didn’t offer it to me. Otherwise I would’ve gone. Similarly, you’ll never hear Georgia admit, Yeah, we wanted to hire that guy away from Kentucky but we didn’t have enough juice to get it done.
So, did Gran actually get offered the job? It depends on who you talk to and what constitutes an “offer.” But the fact of the matter is Gran is still at Kentucky, James Coley is now Georgia’s offensive coordinator, and Gran can show Kirby Smart what he’s missing when the Wildcats visit the Bulldogs on Oct. 19.
