You know the news by now: Alex Grinch has been retained by Lincoln Riley as USC’s defensive coordinator for the 2023 season, in spite of a terrible second half of the 2022 season. That second-half nosedive was punctuated by brutal performances in the Pac-12 Championship Game and the Cotton Bowl in which the Trojans allowed 46 or more points and were physically dominated.
It isn’t easy to be confident in USC’s defense for 2023, but Lincoln Riley has doubled down on his belief and trust in Alex Grinch. Riley has also doubled down on not hiring a special teams coordinator and making significant changes to his coaching staff.
If you ask most USC fans, you’ll get widespread agreement that Alex Grinch is not the best the Trojans can do at defensive coordinator. You’ll get a much more divided reaction on the topic of hiring a special teams coordinator at the expense of releasing a strong recruiter who is currently on the staff of on-field assistant coaches.
Whatever your opinion might be on these matters, let’s ask one question: What is Mike Bohn’s role in all of this? We need to pay attention to how the boss is managing the head coach and the football program.
Let’s examine Bohn’s role and how he is handling both Riley and USC football: