Florida fires assistant coaches after letdown at South Carolina
After getting throttled 40-17 at South Carolina on Saturday, Florida fired defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and offensive line coach John Hevesy, the school confirmed Monday.
Grantham had been on the hot seat since last offseason, but head coach Dan Mullen decided to retain him. Saturday, Grantham’s unit surrendered 459 total yards to what had been a listless Gamecocks offense through eight games.
South Carolina’s running backs combined for 284 yards and both Kevin Harris and ZaQuandre White ran for more than 100 yards on the night.
Gamecocks third-string quarterback Jason Brown also connected on five chunk plays Saturday and finished the evening 14 of 24 for 175 yards and two touchdowns in his first start since transferring to USC from St. Francis (Pennsylvania).
The 40 points scored by South Carolina are the most it has ever had against Florida. The previous high was 36 points in 2010. USC’s 23-point margin of victory was also its largest in series history.
Florida (4-5) was predicted to finish second in the SEC East in 2021 and give Georgia its best competition in the division. The Gators were off to a 4-2 start — including a two-point loss Sept. 18 to Alabama — before its current three-game losing streak that included a 34-7 loss to No. 1 Georgia a week ago in Jacksonville.
“I’m the head coach. I bear all of it,” Mullen told reporters Monday. “It’s on my shoulders. I’m the one that’s responsible for this program, responsible for this team. ... My job is to make sure we go perform and this team plays to the Gator standard, which we’re not doing right now.”
Both Hevesy and Grantham were previously on Mullen’s staff at Mississippi State. Hevesy worked as the co-offensive coordinator, running game coordinator and offensive line coach during his nine years in Starkville.
Grantham was only at MSU for one season, but worked in the Southeastern Conference at Georgia from 2010-2013 before that. He also worked under South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer’s father, Frank Beamer, at Virginia Tech for six years in the 1990s.
South Carolina is 5-4 and 2-4 in SEC play after downing Florida on Saturday. The Gamecocks’ win this weekend over the Gators marked just their second such victory in seven tries.
USC will need one win in its final three games against Missouri, Auburn and Clemson to get bowl-eligible.
This story was originally published November 7, 2021 at 9:13 PM with the headline "Florida fires assistant coaches after letdown at South Carolina."
