The Wisconsin football program officially announced the hire of former USC and Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch earlier today. He will be the Badgers’ new safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator.
Grinch takes over after Colin Hitschler left for a similar position under Kalen DeBoer at Alabama. He does bring years of experience as defensive coordinator, though not the experience everybody may be looking for. The assistant coach was only available for hire because he was fired as USC’s defensive coordinator in early November of 2023 as the Trojans were on pace to have one of the worst defenses in the country.
There is a track record of good years as a position coach, however, as Grinch is a four-time nominee for the Broyles Award for the nation’s top assistant coach with time spent in those roles at Washington State (2015-2017) and Ohio State (2018).
Regardless of his pedigree as a position coach, Badgers fans are not happy with the co-defensive coordinator tag. The fan sentiment can be clearly seen in the replies to Wisconsin’s tweet confirming the hire: