This one is a doozy. Wisconsin is hiring former USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch as its new safeties coach, as first reported by the State Journal’s Colten Bartholomew.
The long-time defensive assistant was fired from USC in early November after a 52-42 loss to Washington. He had previously spent five seasons as defensive coordinator under Lincoln Riley, three at Oklahoma nad two at USC.
The stats of his defenses are questionable, to say the least. USC’s 2023 group finished 116th in total defense and 118th in scoring defense, that after finishing 106th and 94th respectively in 2022.
Grinch does have experience as a position coach, though. He was Washington State’s DBs coach from 2015 to 2017 and Ohio State’s safeties coach in 2018 before being a DC from 2019 to 2023.
He is set to take the role formerly held by Colin Hitschler, who recently left for an assistant job under Kalen DeBoer at Alabama.
Breaking: #Badgers set to hire Alex Grinch as safeties coach. Grinch was the DC/safeties coach under Lincoln Riley at USC and Oklahoma. https://t.co/BJ6ZaYnZBj
— Colten Bartholomew (@CBartWSJ) January 25, 2024